Betwixt
by RegalGold
Summary: A whole new world opens up to Harry as his relatives die in a car crash and the only other family member who he can stay with turns out to be a vampire. With this chance comes the hope of finally getting to live his own life and Harry is going to take it
1. Part 1 Leaving

Not too long ago I read a challenge I just could not resist. Now normally I never do challenges as I'm swamped enough with all my own ideas that keep growing wild. You really don't wanna see my garden its ugly and could provoke a blinding headache and complete absence of will to write for several days. But like I said, I really, really liked the idea.

The Challenge: Issued by **AbNaGbEyL**

**Harry Potter/ Twilight 'Harry Whitlock' Challenge**

Shortly after his fifth year, Harry's Aunt and cousin die in a car crash, leaving him without any ties to hold his blood wards in place. In desperation, Dumbledore uses a spell to locate his next closest relation in hopes of re-establishing the wards to keep Harry protected.

However, Jasper Whitlock-Cullen wasn't _exactly_ what he had in mind when it came to protection.

Problem?

He was Harry's only 'Living' relative.

Obviously, this is a HP/T crossover. Don't add any other book/movie/etc.

Slash preferable, but not required.

Warning, read them or be unpleasantly surprised : messing with timeline, male x male relationship, ooc characters but I'm trying to keep them as true as possible, Creature of Twilight world have alternate degrees of knowledge of the magical world, No Horcruxes!

Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter belong to J.K. Rowling and the set up belongs to **AbNaGbEyL.**

Beta'd by pattyp723. Patty thank you very much for this.

___**Betwixt**_

___**By Kaicee**_

___**Part 1 Leaving**_

_Star light Star bright,_

_The first Start I see tonight,_

_I wish I may, I wish I might,_

_Have the wish I wish tonight._

It had been a short confusing year at Hogwarts. The visions of the hall of prophesy, the fight and Sirius death should have been the end of it. Faith however seemed to think Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts called for some grand entendres and trouble between the ministry and the board of governors had let to Hogwarts closing down February first.

So Harry would have been on his way to his lovely relatives but it hadn't ended there it seems. Some twist of decency had seen the Dursleys killed in a car crash, reason: Vernon had just a tad too much alcohol in his blood and run his family straight into the Thames.

Harry first reaction had been laughter with a nice ending in which he conveyed he was grateful to be rid of them. Dumbledore had looked affronted and professor McGonagall had gasped and given him a ten-minute lecture. Harry hadn't listened, he hadn't been listening since Headmaster Dumbledore had told him about the contents of the prophecy.

The evening had only gone down from there since Dumbledore had informed him that until a house was found he deemed safe, Harry would be staying here getting lesson from whomever was free at the time to fill his days. Harry broke some more trinkets at that, unintended again, but it earned him detention from professor McGonagall and a start of what could have been a really long lecture, but Headmaster Dumbledore had stopped her. For that he was grateful.

He had been let out after that to enjoy the last of his evening at the hospital ward with Hermione and Ron. Both were doing really well and they would be going home tomorrow with the rest of the students. Harry would have loved to ride the train with them but he was not allowed. That had been three days ago.

Sitting on a railing, his feet dangling Harry watched the night sky. It was a lovely evening for it but none of it reached Harry. Just like the lesson he got he took the information in and managed to put it out when asked for but he didn't really experience it, this however had been improving some. Food however still tasted like ash and most of the time he didn't even know what he was drinking.

Thoughts were bothering him, the faults he made, and the danger he had been in and had brought his friends into. At the end of it all was Sirius death, although long talks with Remus had managed to lessen the guilt somewhat. Harry smiled then, that man was a really smooth talker but an honest one. He didn't lie and that meant more to Harry than anything else the others were telling him.

Leaning back Harry closed his eyes and breathed in the crisp air. It was a cold night and he was wearing only his school uniform sans the robes. He had stopped noticing the cold some time ago and some part of his brain told him that he shouldn't stay out here like this, but the crisp atmosphere somehow made him able to think more clearly.

Remus had said his goodbyes to Harry tonight saying he had to do something for Headmaster Dumbledore. He had left Harry 30 letters, one for each week he was away. Tears had stung in Harry eyes as he grasped the packet with red and gold ribbons. Remus had given him a long warm hug and once more told him that no matter what, Sirius and he loved him still and would come running to help Harry no matter what trouble he was in or how much it could hurt them.

"We love you Prongslet and though you may need us to live for you, he and I would never hesitate to die for you if it keeps you safe."

Those had been his exact words and something inside Harry had resonated with it and accepted it. Now sitting here he felt hurt and betrayed but also stronger and determined. He knew what the future held and if he wanted even a little chance of succeeding he needed to learn.

His mind wandered back to his lesson and found that their childlike continuing of the curriculum irritated him. He was supposed to fight a war, to kill a being and still they wanted to teach him how to fold his laundry and by golly but this paint charm will really be helpful when you get to decorate a house.

Chewing his bottom lip Harry finally decided to head inside. He was tired enough now to fall asleep. He would ask he professor he had tomorrow if they couldn't do something more productive. And as he went to bed that night he found the irony that tonight as he went to sleep he was more awake, more aware than he had been for a while now.

-oOo-

Morning brought with it one anxious House elf, a note and a temper tantrum. He really needed to get a handle on the last one, more patience for the first and he should have seen the second one coming miles away.

It was a note from Headmaster Dumbledore telling Harry that today's lesson was cancelled. He was to meet the Headmaster instead at one o'clock and would receive more information about what was going on there.

What had provoked his temper however, were the kind sentences more fit for an eight year old and his recent decision to actually get something done during the lessons. So the first twenty minutes of his day were spent returning the flyaway pillow and blankets back to their respective beds and a nice shower.

Not much later saw Harry in the nicest of Dudley's cast off sitting in the common room enjoying breakfast and piping hot tea. In his hand was the first of Remus letters and he was turning it over and over again. He could open it now, but it Remus hadn't really been gone a week yet. He kept fiddling until the pop Dobby made had him jumping from his chair in fright.

Dobby looked at him with guilt ridden eyes and his hand were making their way up to his left ear. "Sorry, so sorry Harry master. Dobby comes to take left-over's and brings message from Master Lupin." By then Dobby had his left ear and was wringing it something fierce.

For once Harry didn't tell him to stop as the mention of Remus threw him of kilter. Excited Harry focused himself on that instead.

"What message Dobby? What did Remus say to you?"

"Master Lupin says to Dobby he must tell Harry master that Library is open. Master Lupin saying to Dobby Harry master should be taking books he be wanting. No one will be noticing now. Dobby will be going now, Dobby is a bad, bad elf scaring Harry master so much."

"Wait, no Dobby your great." But Dobby was already gone together with Harry's breakfast leftovers.

Unsure of what to do Harry dawdled around for a moment then wondered why Remus would send a message in such a weird way. He could have told Harry when he left.

"What am I waiting for"? Shaking his head, he went off to the library. Wondering around trying to find out the whys would lose him time. He wasn't sure how long he would have to raid the library. It could be days before they brought Madame Pince back to make sure Harry didn't take anything or they could have called her back this morning.

In fact now that he thought about it he wondered why Headmaster Dumbledore or one of the other professor had not thought about making sure Harry didn't take things from the library. Then again, he should not look a gift horse in the mouth. It was better to try his luck and see if he could get some books.

The trip seemed to take forever and every sound made his heart pound most unpleasantly. If he kept this up he might actually suffer an early stroke or something. Then finally he walked through the doors of the library pretending to be casual.

Sauntering around he looked to see if anything was there, be it people or ghosts and let out a breath of relief when he encountered no one. Relaxing just a tiny bit he started to walk down Hogwarts many bookcases. The old wooden structures literary held thousands upon thousands of books and since he did not want the professor or and especially Madame Pince noticing him taking books too soon he could only take a few.

That left him with quite a bit of a problem, which books to take. As he wondered he looked at different books and the subject they were about. Many he put back but some he dragged with him until at one point one of the books fell off and hit him on the foot. The next few moments were spend cursing under his breath and nursing his pained foot. The books scattered all around him and he mentally winced at the thought what Madame Pince would do to him if she saw her precious books this way.

Shrugging he started sorting what he had, if he had trouble carrying this much it was time to make decisions. Once done, he looked the books over and tugged at his hair in frustration. How was he supposed to decide which books to take? He had no idea what he was going to need and therefore unsure what topics had higher priority.

"Ok, just think. Headmaster Dumbledore talked about a connection between me and Voldemort so a book about bonds should be good and curses of course. If I'm fighting I need to know what to use. Ok okay I can do this let's see something about survival should be helpful, no healing would be better. That would be more useful, I can always pick up a muggle book on surviving shouldn't be too different." He dug through the topics he had before him eagerly. Each book he looked through before picking one and laying it beside him.

In the end he ended up with five books. One about magical bonds, curses and counter cast, healing for beginners, occlumency and mind battle. Putting the last book down a shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the vile feeling of Voldemort inside his mind. It wasn't something he wanted to experience again and if he had learned one thing this year it was the importance of guarding ones mind.

Sure of his choices, he moved quickly to return the other books and head back to his dorm. No matter how long the trip to the library was, the one back was nerve racking. At any moment a professor could happen upon him and he would have to explain about the books. Even if they allowed him to read them he would have to return them also. He didn't want that, he wanted to learn at whatever place he was going to be for seven months.

By the time he reached the common room he had goose bumps and his heart was racing from all the stress. Deciding to not depend on luck any longer he raced up the stairs and hid the books away in his chest. Only after that did he release a sigh of relief. Only to have a near breakdown when he realised he had no idea of the time.

Fumbling around he found his watch on his nightstand. It was an old plastic thing you had to wind up, as magic prevented battery powered watches to work at Hogwarts. The little thing told him it was nearing twelve. For a moment he blinked, he had been in the library for hours. He had been truly lucky to not be caught. Then again, the professor probably had more to do than watch him constantly what with all the trouble going on with the ministry.

He supposed he should feel guilty about it and part of him was. The whole fiasco had to do with the department of mysteries after all. It had put the ministry in bad light and in return they had send out several inspectors who then declared that Hogwarts method of teaching and curriculum were outdated and with recent events it showed that desperate measure were needed to make sure future generations could safely learn at Hogwarts.

After that the board of governors had intervened and things had really gone out of control ending with the school closing down until everything was sorted. So while he should feel guilty, Harry hoped that because of this, things would end up for the better. It could of course become worse but he was sure Headmaster Dumbledore and others would prevent that from happening. Malfoy senior would keel over before he let his son suffer an inferior schooling.

When his stomach growled he went downstairs once more and ate a light lunch. By now he started to feel a bit uneasy about the meeting with Headmaster Dumbledore. He had no idea what the man wanted to talk about but his instinct kept nagging it probably had to do with his housing.

A feeling like butterflies in his stomach made him go up and down the emotions scale. Hoping that he could leave today at one moment and dreading the news of where and with whom he had to live with next. He kept telling himself it couldn't be worse than the Dursleys because Headmaster Dumbledore was sure to double check on the people this time.

-oOo-

At twelve thirty Harry left the common room once more and leisurely walked to the Headmaster office. Once there he blinked at seeing a crack down the face of the stone gargoyle and when he actually got closer the beast moved enough to let Harry through.

A bit spooked he moved past the stone statue and rode the escalator up. Once close enough to hear voices Harry didn't even pretend not to listen to the conversation going on.

"That is neither here nor there." Harry had to force himself not to make a sound but he did roll his eyes.

"No! You will not send me back with that pitiful excuse. I want you to say the true reason word for word so I can tell my mate why he suddenly can't be the guardian of his cousin." This was a female voice. Even angry it didn't go into that screeching pitch some girls and woman wandered into when they had an argument while pissed off.

There was a long silence after that and Harry actually held his breath waiting for the answer. For once he might find something out that was true before he had to go through all the lies and misdirection.

"Alright Mrs Whitlock." Headmaster Dumbledore started slowly.

"Hale, Alice Hale. Or Mrs Hale." The woman corrected him.

"Of course Mrs Hale. Well if I had known that Jasper Whitlock was of the undead I would not have contacted him. I want mister Potter safe and your family can not provide it. I will not have Harry staying with vampires."

Harry eyes widened, vampires his mind whispered and then family. That person inside with Dumbledore was a connection to a family member. His heart started pounding and in that instance a plan started to unfold so fast it left him spinning.

"This could work." He whispered and then straightened his posture and marched inside.

The moment his eyes saw the woman he did not let his gaze wander and when he had advanced enough into the room and found himself face to face with the vampire he did not let himself think about her tiny form and nice looking clothes.

"Can you teach me how to fight even when every odd is stacked against me?"

"_Harry!_" Headmaster Dumbledore called out a tint of anger clouding his eyes. But still Harry kept looking at the vampire her eyes an odd yellow brown color. Then she nodded and something in Harry seemed to untangle. It was only after that he turned towards Headmaster Dumbledore being careful to not look the man in the eyes as he spoke.

"I'm going with her, you said yourself all I need it as blood relative at the place I call home and the protection will continue."

"No, you will not go with them I forbid it. You will not be safe there, my boy."

And that was when Harry exploded, the anger he had felt before in this room was nothing compared to this. He was done with all the lies and soft strings that mercilessly guided his way. He would not be a puppet any longer.

And though he did not notice Alice Hale and Albus Dumbledore watched as magic lighted Harry eyes and created air currents that send his clothes and hair flying about. "I will go. I don't care what you think but I will go! If you even think about stopping me I will find another way to leave and I won't care if it puts me in danger. I need to learn and sad as it is, this is not the place I will be getting that."

And Harry was looking Headmaster Dumbledore in the eye now and he watched with some satisfaction as the elder man winced and then looked away.

"Alright Harry, but you will return here on September first. You will send me a letter every three days and at any moment I think it wise I will take you away and you will come with me."

The currents sped up and Harry sneered. "I'll be coming back and I might even send you letters but for now I'm done with you. You will need to give me space if you want me to work with you. I'll get my things now, I want to be on my way by four."

He turned and stalked out the door. On his way back he felt strength leave him and his legs buckled under him. For moments he sat where he had sunk to the floor trembling in anger and fear at what he had just gone through.

He had gone against Headmaster Dumbledore of course he was angry about everything done to him but he really needed to get a handle on his temperament or it could become too dangerous. He couldn't have himself flying of the handle at every little thing.

What if someone said something while fighting, he could hurt his allies and his friends along with the opponent. It frightened him actually the amount of loss of control back in the room. Sniffing he brushed away the tears with his sleeve with a bit of wonder that he hadn't noticed he had been crying.

The next hour was spend making sure he had everything packed, that the books were safely tucked out of sight and wondering why he was left in peace. He was half expecting someone to come up and try to talk some reason into him and part of him was already listing reason to why he would not listen.

Of course a small part of him also told him he was being stupid and wondering why he was acting out like this. During his internal discussion about sudden behaviour changes and how the past year and recent loss probably had to do with it the vampire snuck in.

It scared Harry half to death to suddenly see her sitting on his bed. He was sure he did the whole typical jeez you scared me half to death pose including the gasp squeal sound. Alice Hale smiled at him and for a moment he watch her too white teeth with fascination before his brain processed the information to him what she did with those.

"No need to worry." She spoke teasingly. "I'm what is known as a vegetarian vampire, my family doesn't drink human blood."

"Right, okay. Hmm so I'm Harry." he felt so lame saying that but he honestly didn't know how to react to her. Meeting a vampire who told him she was a vegetarian wasn't exactly something he expected to ever happen to him.

"Well hello Harry, I'm Alice Hale the mate of your distant cousin Jasper. Back home however I go by the name of Alice Cullen since we don't want to invoke suspicion with the humans we deal with."

Feeling like a complete idiot Harry just gaped at her unsure on what to say or do. The bouncy Alice however seemed to being doing enough for the both of them. She was surprisingly bubbly and if not for the tell tale signs he would have thought she was just an overexcited seventh year student.

"We attend a human school and we pretend to be a big family back there. Carlisle is the head together with his mate Esme. We are the _adopted children_. Edward, Emmet and me go Cullen name and Jasper and Rosalie pretend to be twins by the name Hale. It allows us to have relationships but it would be frowned upon if we let them know we're actually married." She explained further and Harry felt understanding grow.

Of course a coven had to take care to avoid too much attention and he guessed when you settled down as a family it would cause trouble if people who looked like seventeen year olds were married. Humans would start watching them more closely and the chance of blowing the cover were that much higher.

"So, you're mates but pretend to be just boyfriend girlfriend around muggles. I guess you could tell me some more on our way back to your home."

"Of course, the whole family is soo excited to meet you. Jasper is so happy he even went shopping with Esme to buy stuff for your room."

Alice happy vibe seemed to contagious and Harry felt flowers of contentment bloom in his chest as she talked about their home back in the States and all the family members he was going to meet. At one point he just sat down on his bed next to her and listened to her talk, it was the most relaxed he had been in some time.

The experience didn't last as at four Alice and he went downstairs after receiving a huge picnic basket from Dobby and the message that a carriage was waiting downstairs to take them to the train station.

It seemed that no one was going to stop him and he felt happy and hurt all at once. But he promised himself to keep going for now. He was going to learn and he was probably going to be much happier than ever with his new family. If even a small portion of Alice tales was right back in the US of A, a bunch of vegetarian vampires was waiting to welcome him into their family and love him.

He could barely wait to get on a plane, from now on things were going to be better. And for once he believed this with his entire being and with it some of his hurt and sadness seemed to evaporate. It left him feeling refreshed and ready to meet the world.

-oOo-

Once they reached the end of their trip with the train it was dark. Alice took him to some hotel and told him that tomorrow they would spend a few hours shopping before they took the plane back. She was very sure that he needed new clothes, as his old ones weren't fit to dress a homeless person. He felt a bit attacked by her words and had answered her with a short answer.

She had just hopped around him and given him a short cold hug. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you had no hand in this collection of misfits. I didn't mean to insult you or berate you, but now that you never have to go back there I thought getting rid of those would be something you liked."

"Actually." Harry spoke slowly. "Do you think we could like ritually burn them in a big bonfire. I would really enjoy that."

Alice had laughed at that. The sound pleased Harry and eventually he had found himself laughing with her.

Morning was spent in total chaos. Alice had arranged for Harry's school trunk to be brought to the airport and kept secure there and ready to be put on the plane the moment it started loading. Then she had thrown his clothes out and they had gone shopping.

After the first twenty minutes Harry was scarred for life. They had gone to three shops already and in all of them Alice would check the clothes make insulting sounds before pulling him along to the next shop. When they finally did find something she was pleased with, he spend the next hour and a half trying outfit after outfit.

While, in hell, Harry watched as the demon queen roped a store clerk into going to another shop to get Harry underwear. She had even written out exactly what she wanted and which store to buy it from. As she checked websites on the computer she had rudely confiscated from the shop she wrote out another note and actually sent the manager to get Harry new coats for the winter and summer!

The figures that rushed past made his head spin, she was spending more than most families made in three months. Shoes, socks, swimming gear even pyjama were bought. When the end finally came, with four suitcases clerk number five was sent out to get, Harry felt like crying tears of happiness. He vowed to never shop with the demon queen again. Alice laughed happily and looked like a harmless angel as she told the clerks to pack up and remove all tags.

When they finally left to catch their plane Harry was tired but happy. Buying new clothes had been kind of therapeutic. It somehow made it really feel like a new beginning now that even his undies were brand new. Still he wasn't ever going out with Alice again unless it was absolutely necessary.

The flight was smooth and when it became late and the regular lights were toned down and the other passengers fell asleep Alice told him more about her, and now by default, his family. A long talk was reserved to tell Harry about Jasper and why he hadn't been able to come himself or why she was the only one to come for him. Something about a birthday party of Edward's muggle girlfriend called Bella.

After that she spoke of the town and school and the neighbours of Indian descendants and the treaty they had with them. In the end Harry asked her just one question, one that had been bothering him a bit.

The "Could you tell me more about vampires?" question could have been insulting so he had been afraid to ask her. Instead Alice had launched into a detailed explanation that left Harry slightly dazed and sure he would never underestimate a vampire, ever. Just hearing about their strength and possible talents made sure that he wondered how the little Hogwarts taught could be so wrong. He wondered if he could maybe write a short introduction on true vampires.

By the time they had to leave the plane Harry was sure he knew more about vampires than any other wizard alive. The hour they had to wait for their next flight was spend in silence and he dozed off a few times. Alice spent it reading several magazines and talking to her family on her cell phone. When she offered it to him he had shook his head, he didn't want his first meeting to be over the phone. Alice seemed to understand and picked up the conversation smoothly and told the family about the shopping trip instead.

Thanks for reading this chapter. Let me know what you think about it, I love reviews and I hope you guys will leave me lots of them. Next update will be Monday.


	2. Part 2 Meetings

Thanks all of those who reviewed put this story on alert or added it to their favorite list. You guys make my world go round.

___This story is beta's by pattyp723, thanks for the wonderful work._

**Betwixt**

**By Kaicee**

**Part 2 Meetings**

_For every evil under the sun_

_There is a remedy or there is none._

_If there be one, seek till you find it;_

_If there be none, never mind it._

The first meeting was a complete rush. Harry was tired beyond words but happy as a clam as Alice introduced him to Jasper and Emmet. Apparently the family had decided to start off small with the rest of them waiting back home. Once they took Harry in however Alice made a quick call as Harry got into the shining silver car telling them that Harry would be better of going to bed once they got home and to keep the welcome party tomorrow.

Harry sent her a thankful smile and promptly fell asleep now that he finally got to meet his cousin. He didn't gain consciousness again until thirteen hours later and missed the entire trip including the part were Jasper picked him up and carried him to his new bedroom.

He woke up the next day at ten and was pleasantly surprised by the room he was in. The style was calm with accents in different shades of blue. The bed was comfortable and opposite him he could see his wardrobe already packed with his clothes. Exploring he found that the open door let him to privet bathroom with toilet, sink and shower. A quick look showed that the closed door led to a landing with several more doors and stairs at the far left end.

Happy he took a shower and dressed in a set of pristine clothing, black jeans and a soft v-neck sweater in green. Going down he felt slightly nervous but it was washed away when Alice stood waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs and introduced him to everyone, including Jasper and Emmet again.

Esme was thrilled and as soon as she had been introduced headed off to the kitchen to make something for him. Jasper clasped hands with him in such a way that Harry just knew the vampire was really happy to have him here. Carlisle was nice and soothed him with just a few words that let him know this was now his home. Edward and Rosalie stayed a bit distant but not in a hurtful way and Emmet threaten him with a bear hug that nearly squeezed his lungs out through his mouth.

It was a fun time with breakfast of sliced fruits and thin pancakes. Tea was brought to him and every member of the family sat down as he told them about himself. For the first time in his life he didn't avoid the subject and found himself pleasantly surprised when he wasn't met with sad looks as he explained about the Dursleys and his life there. Pity was something he hated and it made him happy he would have to deal with it here. Of course they were angry for him but they respected Harry signals saying he was done with it and he considered it over.

When he told them of the magical world he slowed down and he appreciated the fact that the family had some knowledge of magic already. It saved him from explaining every time he mentioned something from his world that would be strange to those with no knowledge. It kept him going.

Finally when he talked about his cut off fifth year Jasper growled and Alice alternately rubbed her mate and Harry soothingly on their backs. Normally Harry wouldn't have liked this but for some reason it felt nice this time. When he stopped silence ruled for a long time, the vampires sitting so still they could have been statues.

Carlisle was the first to break the silence telling Harry that even though he thought it was a bad idea that they would help him train. "We can't help you all out, but I'm sure we can at least teach you some techniques and find a wizard for some home schooling."

"I have a few contacts I will call upon today." Jasper added.

He might look distant but Harry could feel the promise in those words. This cousin, however distant, would be the best kind of relative he could wish for. He believed life was going to get better and with each passing moment that belief was confirmed.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me."

Alice laughed and bounced off the couch and with that action the rest of the family came to life and soon Harry found himself listening to more stories on the family. Cute and fun anecdotes were passed along together with the more serious information.

In the end it took Harry three days to settle down completely, in that time he watched as all but two of the vampires went off to high school. A thing that had Harry laughing silently, some of them were hundreds of years old and still going to school. He stopped laughing pretty fast when Carlisle offered to enrol him.

Edward had laughed at him then showing Harry that though he did his best he could not ignore all tidbits of Harry mind. Harry had refused, stating that he had not received schooling since he was ten and that he would rather spend more time on preparing for his future problems.

Jasper had contacted some connections he told Harry that although three had been useless he was pretty sure he would have a name of a proper teacher in the coming days.

By now Harry started to get used to his silent cousin. The honey haired vampire had been a major in the Confederate army at one point and from what he knew about his past he had more experience in battle from after he was turned. Also Jasper was an empath, Alice had told him about this ability on the plane, and Harry knew that his cousin was sensitive to moods and Harry's tended to go up and down several times during the day. He was probably not the nicest person to be around if you could feel what others felt.

Settling down on his bed, Harry picked up the book closest to him, the one about occlumency and probably his least favorite subject. Still it was a skill he needed to learn and he firmed his resolve and opened the book. He wanted to make some headway for when his teacher arrived so they could at least skip the basic in some parts of his training.

After he read the same paragraph several times Harry knew it was time to change tactics. The nice weather outside was distracting him and as he stared out the window his thoughts kept drifting. He might as well go outside and read the book there.

Sliding off his bed he made his way down, popping by the kitchen for a mug of steaming tea and a snack before going out. The garden, another masterpiece of Esme, was lush with different green plants and artfully decorated with accents of colorful flowers even with the still cold weather. A winding path lead away to the back and a tea parlor with was just perfect right now. The roof of the parlor provided shade from the sharp glare of winter sunlight while the open structure let Harry see everything around him.

In the back, he could see the artificial waterfall, which held little sparkles as it reflected sunlight. The stream left the garden and Alice had told him that if he followed it he would end up in Quileute territory. Dragging his mind away from shape shifting Indians, Harry settled down to try and read the book again. This time he found himself reading two entire chapters before he was disturbed again.

Hearing muggle girl clearing her throat, made Harry snap the book shut and look around. She was standing at the entrance one foot on the dainty steps while the other still rested on the lawn. "Hello, I'm Bella Swan, Edwards girlfriend." She sounded like she was actually asking a question.

"Hello Bella, I'm Harry but I'm sure you already knew that. Was there something you needed me for?"

For a moment she played with her shirttails that come from under her coat, a black felt like one with big shiny black buttons. "Of course Edward told me a little about you, anyway Esme asked me to tell you that we're all going away for a little while and she'll leave the back door open for you and that they'll be back before dinner time."

"Okay thanks for the message, can you tell what you all are going to go too?"

He watched as Bella's cheek took a slightly pink color and her brown eyes looked away from him. She seemed very shy kind of girl and Harry wondered what she was really like. He couldn't really get a read on her like you could from others.

"Well, we had this planned from before you came so we couldn't really cancel. We're going to a mall in Port Angeles and because of some circumstances Esme is coming with Edward and me." The sorry was implied in there somewhere, so Harry decided to let her off the hook. She looked uncomfortable enough explaining as it was.

"Well, I hope you all have a nice time and find something good at the mall. Just one thing, could you ask Esme to buy me a survival guide book, you know, one with tips and tricks in it."

"Of course, I can do that, sure. So we'll be going now, umm good luck with your book." She finally let go of her shirttails as she awkwardly pointed out the worn out book lying on his knees. With a little wave Bella was off and not much later he could hear the car start and leave. Harry returned to his reading pulling the zipper of his own coat a bit higher.

After one more chapter Harry felt like he could strangle Snape. No wonder he had been doing so bad in their impromptu classes. The book explained about preparing your mind and none of it could be covered by Snape's barked line of "clear your mind". Hissing under his breath Harry decided that now was as good a time as any to start the first step described in the book.

It told him that preparing the mind was much like meditating but with the slight difference of that you wanted to get into your mindscape. It suggested being in a completely relaxed state when trying meditating for the first time, as it was hard for beginners. A simple tool like watching a candle flame or the rolling sea could keep the mind focused on not thinking about daily troubles. You had to see only the object and not let your mind wonder. Next came the part where you shifted your outward look inwards, this was the most hardest part as it required you to completely give up your senses. In other words not only did you have to somehow shift your look inwards, but you left yourself completely vulnerable while doing so.

Still, first he needed to get relaxed before trying to meditate; he looked at the stream again and shrugged. Tugging the book under his arm he followed the stream out of the garden and into the forest. Since he wasn't really sure what would relax him the most he would start with a walk and try the bath thing tonight if that didn't work out.

-oOo-

The walk was refreshing and the scenery fantastic but he found that it didn't do much for him. He felt the need to stay alert; to take in his surroundings and check if anything was happening. He should have expected something like this, what with the life he had lived all those years.

Deciding to give it up Harry turned around and followed the stream back up. Making good time on his trip back but when he finally stepped inside the house again the sun was setting and the clock told him Esme and Edward would probably be back any moment. For a short moment he wondered why the rest had to go to school while Edward and Bella hadn't, it probably had to do with their timetable or a project or something.

He took the time to bring his book back to his room before settling down in the living room in front of the TV. He put it in National Geographic and was pleasantly surprised with a survival show.

About an hour later, the guide on the show was explaining the basics he had been using so far for a second time, Esme and Edward walked in followed by the rest of the gang. They greeted Harry and after discarding their bags joined him in the living room. The exception was Esme who had gone straight to the kitchen to prepare Harry's dinner.

"Here's the book you requested." Edward said handing him a paper wrapped parcel.

"Thanks. So did you guys have a good trip to the mall?"

Edwards watched him as he ripped into the paper and retrieved his brand new shining survival guide. "Yes, we had to get some stuff for Bella and mine biology project. We could have gotten it earlier but the crafts shop in Forks was out of the stuff and with what happened to Bella last time in Port Angeles I thought it best to take Esme with us."

Harry watched as Edwards face contorted just a little bit and showed a bit of the beast he could be. He wondered how he could so easily forget that all of them could be very dangerous. He raised a brow in question at Edward's statement. Surely Edward alone was more than enough protection for Bella.

"Under normal circumstances I would be, but when it comes to Bella I have a harder time keeping control so I asked Esme if she would come along." Edward responded.

Harry sniffed but nodded in understanding. "I guess, thanks again for the book."

"It wasn't any problem dear." Esme called from the kitchen.

Harry just smiled and next to him he could feel Jasper move. Apparently his happiness made Jasper happy. That made him smile even more and feelings of fondness joined the happy ones. Now he had his dream family that did little things for him just to show they cared. And best of all they didn't try to guilt trip him into anything, a habit even his best friends sometime used on him.

That night he ate blueberry pancakes and had warm fudge on ice cream for dessert. They laughed and joked but all of them sat silent as Jasper talked in his cell to what was clearly a wizard. Harry held his fingers crossed and looked at Jasper trying his hardest to hear what the caller was saying.

Not much later they could raise their glasses in celebration as Jasper told him that a French wizard by the name of Jean had agreed to teach Harry. He was so happy with this news and wondered what Remus would say. That simple line put the letters to the forefront of his mind. Instead bathing that night he pulled the first of Remus envelopes from the stack and this time he opened it.

-oOo-

Days turned into weeks and Harry found that he really enjoyed Remus letters. They were a joy to read and a soft balm to his wounded heart. The older man talked of happier times and gifted Harry with many new mementos of his parents coming and goings, but more important he counselled Harry on what had happened and his past.

Therapy by letter Harry called it and it was working too. He still had a temper though, one that was regularly provoked by Master Jean, as the little French teacher liked to be called. The man had connected the Cullen house to the floo network and every Tuesday and Thursday Harry went to a training gym at some undisclosed location.

The first lesson had been about testing Harry to see what he could do, knew and didn't know. It had been the nicest lesson he had. After that it was like going to the military. Master Jean was all about proper conduct and respect and he drilled Harry on those things mercilessly, going back over the work Harry had learned in his previous years. Every wrong was met by corrective punishment that ranged from a lap around the gym to a gruelling exercise that left him so tired he could even muster up enough energy to feel anger or irritation.

Back home Jasper had come through with an obstacle course he changed daily. He coached Harry through it and presented different scenarios he had to think about too. It was a very good exercise that forced him to think things through lest he hurt himself. It also helped him somewhat with his hot temper.

Most notable of the time spent was his happiness. The training helped with his anger, the letter counselled him, but the family healed him. It was such a good feeling to wake in the morning and feel so happy. It was, he mused, something he was not used to. Sure there had been times at Hogwarts he had come close to this. And he was sure Hogwarts would always be his second home, but it had been replaced as his first home by the Cullen's.

The books had been great too. He was finally able to meditate but the shift to inwards was still beyond his grasp. The curses book was nice but Master Jean was much more practical so he hadn't really touched it. But from it all, the most interesting books were the book on bonds and healing. Master Jean was actually pleased that Harry put effort into learning how to fix minor wounds and told him to tell him when he was ready for more serious healing instruction.

What did nag at him was that he still hadn't figured out what his connection to Voldemort was. He didn't really get to think about it so the frustration didn't really built up. Harry thought with a smile, just now he had finished today's mission Jasper had prepared for him and it had left him truly depleted.

The shower had helped his tired muscles some but he knew he would be hurting tomorrow. At least he would be free tomorrow as Master Jean had blown a gasket last training session after hearing some news from his home country. He had told Harry he would be back next week and to go over what they had been learning the last two lessons.

His free day had been picked up by someone already, Bella Swan had asked him to come along to a meeting in La Push. While the Cullen's could not cross the boundary Harry still could and apparently Bella wanted to introduce him to his neighbours. Not to mention it would help Edward feel more secure about Bella going there.

The whole thing was a bit awkward, as Harry had no particular fondness for Bella. The last few weeks he found that he could not understand her. She had a loving family and a good normal life but she wanted to give it all up for immortality. A conversation he had overheard presented him with the reasons. She didn't want to be older than Edward and be with him for always. In his opinion those were some pretty stupid reasons.

Sure he could understand the always-together, part but to throw away what she had because of it was just beyond Harry. Then again he finally found a family, something of a miracle in his eyes so he was probably a bit biased.

Another thing that bothered him was how young Bella was in spirit and mind. Everything about her screamed of no knowledge of what was really out there, her little spat with James aside. She seemed to be cocooned and with the experience Harry had he hated being shielded and blind to the world with a vengeance.

Still she was a nice girl and he did manage to get along with her, as long as it was for short periods of time. He guessed he should be thankful that Edward didn't mind too much. The male vampire showed all the signs of one who had found his mate. It helped he guessed that most of the family held different opinions on Bella.

Rosalie disliked her and thought of her as a threat, which she was as muggles were not supposed to know about magic or creatures. A reason why Bella still did not know Harry was a wizard even if she did know about vampires and shape shifting wolves. It would cause more trouble if she learned more and more about their world, so keeping the knowledge to a bare minimum was the policy around the Cullen home. Alice liked her and loved to spend time with her, Jasper was more reserved and partially shared Harry opinion on her.

Carlisle, Esme and Emmet had no particular problem with her, as they were happy as long as Edward was happy. Carlisle did keep her under close observation and Harry saw him check to make sure no one out there knew about Bella regularly.

That night as he went to bed he practiced meditating and gained another step forward. He had seen flashed of his mindscape, a huge dark castle, and he could hardly wait for the day he managed to enter it.

-oOo-

The trip to La Push was spent mostly in silence. Harry could feel Bella going through different phases. She started with shy and unsure then to curious and shy and from there she got over her shyness and asked questions. At least now the trip wasn't so boring Harry thought; he still would have liked her more if she hadn't gotten to ask so much.

He understood the need to know more about him, he was a member of the Cullen family. A vampire family so what did that say about him. Was he normal, like her, or maybe something else like the shape shifters?

He still complied and offered her vague non-answers or if it was safe tiny bits of the truth. He could see in her brown eyes that she knew what he was doing and he could almost see the wheels in her brain turn as she tried to figure him out.

It made him smile, such a typical human thing to do. It reminded him that even if his world seemed to tilt from it axes others did not suffer from the same problem. A bout of nostalgia threatened to take over and Harry asked Bella to tell him about La Push and the shape shifters. She was more than happy to comply. She probably figured out by now that he didn't want to talk about himself or his life, he guessed he was grateful she wasn't at least one of those pushy girls that made everything their business.

For a moment he saw Hermione's face when he thought of that and felt slightly guilty. Hermione was a real busy body on top of being a know it all. He still loved her but the coming school year he wasn't too sure if he could take all her well meant bothering.

He was changing with each passing day and probably more and faster than any of his friends back home. Of course he was sure that they too worked hard in their way and Hermione was certainly one to get the most of her time. He found himself looking forward for the first time to seeing them all again on September first and find out how everyone had changed over the past seven months.

Bella was just telling him about how the pack was linked when they were in wolf form and that there was even a girl wolf. Thinking and listening seemed to have left him with some gabs in the information she had given but he was sure it wouldn't do too much harm. The whole telepathy thing fascinated him though.

"So they hear what everyone thinks, even the embarrassing stuff?"

Bella blushed lightly; he found that this was her default reaction to a lot of things. "Yes, Jacob talked about it once. I'm not sure if it was something I could tell to others." She looked at him sideway through her hair and Harry got the question without problem.

"No worries, I won't mention it. But just to be safe is there any other things I need to know about? Things that they might not like or hurts them?"

Bella's hand clenched the steering wheel and Harry watched as her mouth moved while she swallowed. Then like nothing happened the tenseness left and she let out a deep sigh. "Nothing much really, I guess you already know they don't like vampires or the smell of them so be ready to get some remarks on that. I guess you should try to contain your reaction when you see Sam's mate Emily, she has a wound on her face and the story behind it isn't so happy. Other than that just try to keep a level head as they transform when agitated too badly. Their emotions tend to rise really easy and they can't always control themselves."

He could feel the careful and honesty of her words so he found himself nodding before he had completely taken them all in. He was sure he wouldn't have any problems really; he had seen lots of weird things so a couple of scars wouldn't do much. And as for tempers rising high he would just have to look at it as an opportunity to practice his own raging outbursts.

Just then Bella turned her car of the road and parked it in an empty parking lot. A big wooden sign welcomed visitors to La Push and offered them a happy day. A metal white board next to it held a list of rules and next to that was a pole with directions. It held wooden arrows that pointed out the direction to the fishing store, toilets and souvenir shop in blocky letters.

"Welcome to La Push." Bella offered and Harry smiled at her.

"I'll just let you show me the way since they forgot the arrow to show in which direction the beach is."

They left the car behind and Bella led him down a well-worn path, soon he could hear laughter and talking, when they took a turn he was suddenly presented with the ocean and a group of people mingling happily. Most notable were the big males and He knew that those were the shape shifters at once.

Another few steps set his senses on fire as their magic washed over him. All his training had made him more sensitive to magic in general but beings tended to come in clearer as they were more concentrated than natural magic.

One of the shifters turned around at Bella's call and soon another joined the man. Both felt equally strong in Harry's mind and he wondered if he was dealing with the alpha and beta wolf. When the one on the left reached out his hand to Harry he was at least sure that he was the alpha.

"Hi Harry, welcome to La Push I'm Sam. Bella told us some about you but you're not quite what I expected you to be."

Harry took the hand and shook it. "Thank you, I heard some about you from Bella and the Cullen's too. I'm glad you let me come here it's a very beautiful place."

Normally not one to notice his surrounding Harry did mean what he said. He hadn't had much chance to see the ocean in his life and this was his first proper look. The seemingly endless quality of it pleased something inside of him.

"Hey, no need to fake it leech boy." The other shifter said. Sam growled and Harry looked at him, eyes wide and not sure to be angry or hurt.

This shifter while at least equally strong was younger than Sam. He was huge and his hair was longer than those of the others. Bella shushed him and he looked sheepish at her rubbing the back of his head.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just the smell tends to get to me. Bella could probably tell you all about my bad behavior as I tend to run my mouth when she smells strongly of them too."

"I guess." Harry answered slowly set on ignoring this wolf for the rest of the night. He focused his attention to Sam therefore and pondered the hidden message. Not quite what he had expected, he guessed that suddenly having a wizard on your territory was something unexpected indeed.

"I hope now that you have finally met me I'm still welcome."

Sam's response was immediate and warmer and kinder than Harry expected. "Of course. You're most welcome, let me introduce you to the tribe." Beside them Bella and the shaggy haired men whispered until Bella giggled and swatted him calling out his name. Jacob, Harry filed it away and let Sam guide him.

"I hope you understand that chances of you getting comments like that aren't going to be rare. Most of us have a hard time ignoring our born instincts; it's what makes us so dangerous the time before we turn and the few weeks following it. It's a battle to harness those instincts and some of us take longer than others."

Sam flicked his eyes towards Harry as he explained; a silent apology and it would be all that he would get. He could understand that, life was unfair and it would be even more unfair if he made trouble over something that couldn't be helped. He nodded to show his understanding and Sam showed him a small well meant smile in return.

"Well then, let's begin with the tribe elders. I understand that with the some of the crowd we got here tonight we can't speak of certain manners. Because of that I would like to invite you back at a later date."

That of course was not something unexpected and Harry had merely wondered when Sam would bring it up. "I would like to accept, I will need to check when I can come and I'll inform my cousin and the Cullen family as a whole when I go."

"Understandable." Sam agreed and the next moment they were sitting together with several elderly men.

Introduction became a long but fun affair. The Quileute tribe was mostly split between the elders and the youngsters, those in-between was explained were attending colleges or had married into another tribe or just left. Now with the shape shifters returning from legend the tribe began to flourish again.

Harry wondered about that. The lands had such a nice feel to them and he found he could not understand why people would leave it, especially those of the blood who would feel an even stronger pull to it.

He presented his question to Sam and found himself answered by three different shifters. The outcome was pretty much the same and it made Harry a bit sad. The times had changed and staying with the lands was seen as something stupid and unnecessary. Now with the shifters here again the bonds to the lands would be stronger again and the next generations, theirs included, would not leave their home so easily.

The shifter that had been introduced as Paul made a growling sound causing a couple of muggle teenagers to squeal and hop away from him in a fit of giggles. The shifter rolled his shoulders and a flash of golden eyes glared angrily at the girls before he turned back to the rest of them. "It's just plain stupid to me." He finally grounded out showing that he was not pleased with the new circumstances at all.

"Just ignore him, he's just naturally this sulky." An overly bubbling member said aloud, Harry thought he this one had been introduced to him as Quill.

Paul lunged at him with another growl, this time Harry could detect just a hint of playfulness to it. Quill darted out of reach and produced a raspberry. It seemed that was too much and Paul darted up and after him, Quill was gone into the night with just a few steps lead to the following Paul.

He watched along with Emily and another member whose name he really couldn't recall as the pair ran off. Finally Emily called their attention back by offering to get some more drinks. Harry wanted to protest but Emily stopped him.

"It's no problem at all. I meant to let Sam know that I'm doing fine anyway so it's convenient."

"Well in that case I would like another juice please." Harry lifted his empty glass to her and she took it from him. The other shifter declined and Emily left. Just then Bella and Jacob turned up by their fire and settled down.

"We need to go soon." Bella said as soon as she sat. "It's a school night so I have to be back earlier to my father."

"Okay, I'll just go say my goodbye's to Emily and Sam. Then I'm ready, that good?"

Bella smiled and blushed. "Yeah, thanks. At least it was fun being here, wasn't it?"

"Yes, this is a nice place. I'll be right back."

Harry set of after Emily and found her talking to Sam, his glass of juice in her hands. He offered them his goodbyes and promised to return soon for a longer talk and Emily waved his apology about the drink off with a smile.

When Bella and him walked back to the car Jacob followed. He was like a giant shadow that glided along the path and the hair in Harry's neck stood on end. He felt like he was being stalked and he couldn't help but look back at irregular intervals to make sure it was truly Jacob and that he wasn't showing any signs of attacking.

When the car came in view with it came the light of lanterns and Harry could make out the amused look on Jacobs face. It rubbed him the wrong way but he bit his tongue and kept his temper in check. Goodbyes between Jacob and Bella were short and made Harry feel like an outsider. He wondered how Edward felt with a shifter liking his girlfriend so much. What with their hereditary dislike for each other it had to bother him under normal circumstances but for Edward's mate to be, that had to be just harsh.

The ride back was nice and quiet. Harry had the feeling that Bella could feel his reluctance to talk just now and was respecting that. He found that he liked her a bit more for that but at the same time he liked her a bit less for hurting Edward, even if she probably didn't really mean to.

At home the Cullen's would be loud in their complaints about the smell of wolves and Harry would laugh with them as Esme put together a late night snack. It had been a fun free day and he had truly enjoyed meeting the shifters. Who would have thought that he could spend hours at an impromptu barbeque by the sea?

When he did reach his home however something in the air felt slightly charged. Uncomfortable he wished Bella a good night and walked the path to the front door with slowly. His mind was racing over what could have happened to cause such nervous energy to permit the sky and found his question answered when he entered the living room.

A grumpy Goblin was sitting on one of the couches, his family standing around it and no one was talking.

"Is there something wrong?" he just had to know. It couldn't be normal for a goblin to come to someone's house.

"Good, you're finally here. You a very rude person Mr. Potter." The goblin snapped out startling Harry. He had never met the goblin and was therefore pretty sure he could not have done anything to offend it.

Carlisle stepped in at that moment and guided Harry to the chair they had probably placed there for him. Jasper took to standing behind it giving Harry silent comfort and mental support.

"It seems Harry that you are the heir of Sirius. The goblins here had some problem getting your address information to inform you of his will and any obligations that come with it." Carlisle explained kindly. All the while the goblin just sat glaring at Harry as if he wanted nothing more than to rip Harry another one.

"Oh." Was all Harry could say as sadness overwhelmed him. Jasper grasped his shoulder with one hand and Harry felt a little bit better. In the background Alice hovered but she kept silent whole the rest of the family made a slow retreat to give Harry some privacy.

"Anyway, you are a very rude boy making me come here but now that I finally have you let's get on with it." The Goblin spoke up again, his harsh tone making the words meaner than they could have been.

"Let's see this here is the will, it is very straightforward. Except for some little things Sirius Black left to his friend Remus Lupin, his cousin Andromeda and something called the order, you are the sole heir. You will carry the heir title and at some point when you have children or decide to bestow the title on someone else, it will stay frozen due to you already being the Potter heir and are intended to be the head of house for your own family."

From there a long explanation told Harry that it wasn't possible for a person to be the head of two houses and he could therefore not assume the Black full title but a child of his could or as another option Harry could appoint the next heir if he wanted too.

While the Black family had been an old and well respected family at one point, the last decades had done them no good and most of the fortunes were gone. The Black's had never been one for property but their residential estate was in disrepair and not habitual. The second house was where the order resided and Harry gave permission for the order to continue using it.

Papers had to be signed and contracts read. It was a long night and there seemed no end of things to do to prepare everything. He was very thankful for Carlisle and Jasper who helped him decide and explained things he didn't understand. The goblin wasn't much help of anything and only spat out the occasional rude comment or instruction (which sounded like rude comments).

In the end all was finished and Harry could only sigh when something that the goblin had said made him sit up right. Excitement coursed through his veins as he asked his question.

"Can I have my parents will?"

The goblin snorted. "Sure. Add to my burdens why don't you. Making me travel to this country not making proper notifications of moving causing everyone trouble and now you want your parents will. Well Mr. Potter you could count yourself lucky I can get it for you without much trouble or you could have gone and get it yourself back in England."

Blinking Harry watched as the goblin walked to the fire and threw in a glittering object. He couldn't see it very well but he guessed it worked a little bit like floo only that a large filing cabinet appeared. Muttering under his breath the goblin pulled open a drawer and after going through the folders pulled out one with Potter name.

"Let's see, oh here it is last will and testament. It isn't much actually, just naming you as heir and arrangements for where you where supposed to go if they died. I've got Sirius Black and Remus Lupin named for caretakers but a ruling after your parents death made it impossible for you to be placed with them and the Wizengamot in an emergency meeting decided to let Albus Dumbledore choose a suitable place for you. It goes on to say that most of the older Potter estates are donated to various causes such as St. Mungo's and magical reserves."

Reeling with what he had been told Harry could feel his temper rise. He couldn't understand why he had not been placed with Remus. He could kind of understand Sirius being crossed of the list but why Remus. His temper was rising and he could feel Jasper shift behind him.

"Who… who was responsible for my parents will and made sure people were notified of its contents? In fact who was at the reading." His voice was slightly pitched and the goblin winced looking shifty and uncomfortable.

"Well, I can remember that with this one there was a bit of an accident. The will was only partly executed, the homes and donations were taken care of and we did make sure the Wizengamot knew who to put you with. It seems the goblin responsible however wasn't too careful and this caused some trouble."

All Harry could process was the word mistake. It rang in his mind and he felt like throwing something at the goblin. "There was a mistake, what mistake." He growled out.

"It resulted in you becoming a ward of the ministry shortly after you parents death and thereby placing you in a dangerous position. Albus Dumbledore stepped in and called for an emergency meeting in which he got them to vote for him to decide what to do with you. You can't complain Mr. Potter Gringotts has taken responsibility, it is not normal for a trust fund to have that much gold you know." The last was added snidely but Harry wasn't listening anymore.

He had almost been a ward of the ministry. Shuddering he thought of how that could have ended, he was sure that most roads let to his death. He guessed he had to be a little bit thankful to the Headmaster for at least made sure that hadn't happened. Still it would have been nicer if he had found Harry another family to live with, or to be more exact, that he looked somewhat harder and found Jasper all those years ago.

For a few moments everyone was still. Then the goblin snarled collected his things and set off to the fire. "If there is anything else you can come and get it yourself. I'm not ever going to take transatlantic portkey for anyone ever again."

With a roar of the fire it was off, probably to his portkey location. To everyone's surprise Jasper hugged Harry offering him comfort by both touch and emotion. Alice stepped from the shadows and made understanding sounds as Harry sputtered and shouted about what he had learned. From the background Carlisle watched and Harry knew he could talk to the vampire if he needed it.

-oOo-

After that one free but most turbulent and in the end painful day time seemed to speed up as it was filled with training, learning and growing. The first time he found his pants too short he and frowned and wondered if they had been washed to hot. Trying out a few others told him differently and one afternoon Alice took his seize to shop for him as he had refused to do it together.

After that nothing much happened to disturb him. Jasper kept up with creating unique assignments for Harry to complete on the obstacle course. Every once in a while he would see wolves watching him at the point where the course ran close to the border.

One of the wolves a russet colored animal even entered the course on some days causing extra havoc. As time passed Harry learned that this was Jacob in his wolf form and while he was annoyed some of the time he found that the longer he knew the shifter the more he was endeared with him.

When they met in person Harry found that Jacob still managed to rub him the wrong way some of the time. He guessed it was just part of the package and left it at that. His temper was easier to handle these days so the jabs didn't bother him too much anymore. Most of those meeting involved Bella so Jacob would spend more time focusing on her then him anyway.

Bella another thing he kind of got used too. He still found himself unable to really understand her or agree to the life she was choosing. He saw however that Edward was happy with her and Jasper told him once that the feelings were real. He guessed he could live with it since it wasn't really his problem unless the Volturi found out for Bella knowing was still punishable by death and not necessarily only hers.

On another note Master Jean was, as Harry discovered, a verbal force of nature. The man was temperamental and quick to go off in bouts of shouting. It seemed to be normal however and not something personal. After that little discovery he found he got along a lot better, well that and he learned to tune out most of the rants unless Master Jean hit upon something interesting.

In fact one of those interesting facts had been something about bonds. They had been going through Harry charms one of which was to light a candle without a wand, harder than it sounds but then most wandless magic was extremely hard even the easiest spells cost more power and endless amounts of time to get them to work. Master Jean however thought it would be helpful to know just a few tricks just for those moments you found yourself in a pinch.

Master Jean had mentioned something about how a wizard could bond with an element. Instantly curious Harry had managed to get Master Jean to spend the rest of the lesson bonds, elemental bond for starters but in the end bonds that could bind people.

It had been the most fascinating lesson in history, at least in Harry's humble opinion. Not only did he learn how he could bond an element to himself (only one because trying for more would be the death of any being stupid enough to try) and he got several hints on the bond between him and Voldemort.

So to say Harry had gone a bit research crazy when he wasn't too tired was putting it mildly. The book on bonds he had been reading on and off became much more useful when you actually had a goal and soon Harry found that the bond he shared was likely more a contract than an actual bond. And for once luck was with him, because the ministry automatically recorded any kind of contract made in the United Kingdom.

He had actually let Carlisle and Jasper deal with getting the papers. It had felt so good to let someone else take some of your problems and know they would do their outmost best for you. It was a feeling he still couldn't get used to even after all those months. He felt that every time it happened was like a precious gem to him.

So Harry had focused on picking an element next to everything else. He was still in the beginning stages of finding what fitted him best when Jasper came to his room one night bringing with him a bundle of parchment. It was the contract.

It wasn't a moment too soon as September first was only a week away.

Note from Kaicee: Thanks for reading this chapter. Be sure to leave a review if you enjoyed it. I love reading them. I hope I will see you all next update which will be Thursday.


	3. Part 3 Ending & Beginning

Welcome to part three, we're now halfway through the story. I hope you will all like the solution I used to defeat Voldemort.

This story was Beta's by pattyp723. Thanks for cleaning up my messes and making this story nicer to read.

**Part 3 ending & beginning**

_Birds of a feather flock together,_

_And so will pigs and swine;_

_Rats and mice will have their choice,_

_And so will I have mine._

Harry looked up at the sound of his bedroom door opening and abandoned his task completely when he saw Jasper. His cousin was the silent but good type and a brilliant strategist when it came to battle. He could probably give Ron a run for his money with chess.

When his cousin presented him with parchment he looked at it for a moment unsure what it was for until Jasper spread it out on the bed before him. On the first page in black ink two names blazed boldly, Harry James Potter & Tom Marvolo Riddle contract arrangement.

"This is it Jasper." Harry whispered exited.

His cousin sat down on the bed with him as he read the three pages containing the contracts rules and guidelines. It was mostly legal jargon so he didn't understand much of it. He did get the gist of it though. It was some form of living arrangement contract.

Finally he put the pages down and looked at Jasper. "Is there a way to break it, to sever the tie binding us?"

"Yes, Carlisle and I have looked it over and found that it can be broken fairly easy. It is however not a good solution but I'm sure you would want to do it anyway. Therefore Carlisle left to prepare the living room and make the procedure as safe for you as possible."

His cousin was looking away now and Harry felt a shiver run down his spine. "What is the solution Jasper?"

"You will have to die if only for a few seconds. We can do this relatively safely and bring you back but it still comes with risks. It will terminate the contract and Voldemort won't have his artificial lifeline any longer so the next time he is killed he will be dead and staying dead."

"Could you tell me a bit more about the contract, this artificial lifeline what is it about?"

"Well that night he attacked you Harry he unintentionally created a contract in which he gets to live as long as you do. This contract kept you from being killed but it also kept Voldemort alive because you were. That is the artificial lifeline and with his spirit and soul here he could create a his lifeline any longer and when he gets killed he will die. So when you terminate the contract he won't have that to keep him alive any longer."

It was much to take in and Harry was sure that months ago it would have made his temper flare. Now he only felt hurt and disgusted. "So what about the prophesy, why kill me if I'm what keeps him semi immortal."

Jasper turned to him completely and offered him a look of understanding. "Well, from what you told us he never heard it in its entirety and with his personality he could never stand to have you living while he was living, and because of that you can't truly live while he is alive. It's twisted really; in fact you could almost say that the prophecy's only true because Voldemort acted upon the part he heard. Had he ignored it who knows what could have happened."

"Yeah, that is a bit ironic." Harry lapsed into silence before he blurted out. "You will be there?"

Jasper nodded and took his hand guiding him downstairs. "You're a brave person Harry and even if we don't like it we knew the moment we figured it out you would be doing this."

Downstairs the entire Cullen coven was waiting for him. Esme and Alice looked scared while the rest just stood by silent, all of them offering their support. Carlisle was waiting in the middle of the room equipment strategically placed.

The last few steps he took alone until Carlisle took his hand and helped him lie down in the blankets on the high steel table.

"I know you Harry and I want to assure you that we will support you. I will make sure it will be as safe as possible for you; all you have to do is lie here and go to sleep. I will be using a type of drug that will stop your heart, and then we wait and bring you back before true damage can be done to your brain and body. However there will be risks of brain damage, do you really want to do this?"

Heart beating fast Harry found his mouth dry as he tried to swallow. His palms wet and he could barely keep himself from panicking. This was the power Voldemort knew not, Harry was the only one who could terminate the contract. If he wanted any chance at a life of his own he needed to get free.

"I'm sure, just. I'm just so scared."

Carlisle smiled at him warmly and stroked his hair. "I know anyone would be. I'll administer the drug now. You'll only feel the needle and then it will be just like falling asleep. We'll all see you in a few moments when I wake you back up."

The needle prick didn't hurt at all but his panic got worse when he felt himself slipping away. He was dying, actually dying. As the process kept blotting out his senses Harry wondered if it would be worth it his panicked brain running in circles never allowing him to actually think. Then the world went black and Harry stopped being.

-oOo-

The first thing he noticed was the noise. Voices were talking around him, shushing each other, speaking of their fears and comforting each other. At one point he found himself connecting the voices to the people and not much later he could follow the conversation.

Carlisle was the one who kept giving updates to the rest of the family on Harry's stats. That he was stable, that his heart rate was normal and other such since telling them that Harry was alive but not if he was there. In the beginning the urge to reach out to them wasn't even really there. It was nice to hear them worried about him but because the last memories hadn't really caught up to him yet he didn't understand everything happening.

Then finally he remembered bits and then he found himself drowning in his old panic and it sent him right back into full consciousness. Panicked cries of Harry and question of how are you doing flooded him and he shook his head to show he didn't want them to do this. The world was confusing enough at the moment.

Bit by bit his mind placed all the pieces in the place and his panic subsided. Only then could he appreciate all the worried vampires around him. Jasper was even holding his hand and rubbing it with his fingers in a soothing motion. Tears spilled from his eyes then as their love for him overwhelmed him.

And he knew, just deep down that he finally felt they were family. The thought had been there but only now did he truly acknowledge it. The rest of the day was spend with them fussing over him while Harry mostly enjoyed it and tried to work through the fact that he had actually been dead for several minutes.

It wasn't until many hours later that he felt truly calm and ready to face the truth. It was then that he asked if he could talk with Carlisle. Their conversation mostly about informing Harry what had happened when he had died and how he had been woken.

What bothered him the most was Carlisle warning that for several weeks they would need to test Harry to make sure there wasn't any lasting damage to his brain and body. He pushed those facts away by focusing on the broken contract. Apparently their little foolish action did do what it had intended and Harry was now free of Voldemort. Of course that wouldn't stop the man from trying to kill Harry so all his training was still very necessary.

Master Jean would be pleased to know that his work hadn't been for nothing. Harry was sure however that he would never send the little demon a thank you note. Going over every little thing he had learned in his previous years had been an annoying rule. He had wanted to blaze into the new and exciting things but now he could grumpily admit that going back to basic had been a good choice.

Not to mention that when he did get to learn new stuff he found that he understood it more and that he needed less time to master it. Of course all the interesting lectures most of them yelled had taught him a lot too, like the one about bonds. He guessed he was now well ahead of his peers and he had half a mind to try and keep it that way.

Of course doubts of his future and past experiences told him that he might be too busy at Hogwarts. Usually all the drama happening to him or around him kept him from doing well in his studies and now that he was that much closer to beating Voldemort he might neglect his studies more so as to spend more time on getting rid of the madman.

Then from the doorway of Carlisle study Edward spoke up. "You don't have to be the one anymore Harry. Anyone can kill him now."

Harry furrowed his brows in confusion; the thought was so alien to him. After all those years of hearing he was the one, just having one person say something like that sounded wrong. Then the rest of the family poured in with similar statements and they all did their best to console Harry, feeling that he needed it.

And he did, need it. His emotions got out of control and he could feel his temper slipping. Jasper grabbed his shoulder and managed to ground him. For that Harry was very thankful. Tears formed from several emotions, fear, anger, hope and happiness.

That night he fell asleep emotionally drained but with a fragile hope of freedom and peace. He didn't wake up for two days.

-oOo-

The second time Harry woke he would later remember with fondness that all of his family was gathered around him. They were quieter this time; he later found out that Alice had a vision of him waking up that lessened their worries.

Still he could understand that after what had happened that they had been very worried about him. Carlisle told him of the test he had done on Harry and Harry's blood. A good message he could give Harry was that so far he could see no permanent damage to him.

Another good thing to happen was that Harry no longer felt the fear and turmoil of that day. It seemed that he had worked through his emotion upheaval while he was sleeping leaving him almost fine when he woke. Some of the best news however was when Jasper handed him the Daily Prophet.

In big bold letters it celebrated the defeat of Voldemort. A picture showed a ruined house with Voldemort's dead body lying on the ground. Apparently a raid gone bad, the hero was a forty-year-old wizard named Fingly who in desperation had flung a cutting curse at the Dark Lord. He had been running away at the same time and the curse had hit Voldemort in the neck. While Voldemort had been dead before he hit the ground, it didn't keep the death eaters there from tearing the man limb from limb and so the Hero had only lived a few minutes to enjoy his accomplishment.

The paper told of a monument that was going to be built for Fingly and went on to tell of his life. Not anywhere in the paper was a word about Harry and Harry found he was glad for it. He did have the nagging feeling he wasn't forgotten quite yet. He would probably be painted as a false messiah and put down as some needy little kid with an ego enlarged head.

He wasn't looking forward to that part of his future but the possibilities of his new opportunities far outshone that negative point. It was then that he noticed the bulk sitting near the door, shaggy hair topping it and before he could stop himself he had voiced his thoughts.

"What is he doing here?" all at once the Cullen's grew silent and turned their heads towards the shifter. On the ground Jacob flinched and turned his head up, brown eyes looking at Harry with a pained expression.

Seeing the shifter was a shock what with the mutual dislike of scents by both parties. Still he had to be here for a reason and a really good one at that. No one seemed to want to step forward to explain this time though.

The tension in the room had raised a few levels and Harry wondered why his family was so reluctant to explain this to him. It also made him alarmed for he was sure they would do this only when they thought the explanation would hurt or upset him. Finally he didn't want to deal with the suspense anymore, not with everything else going on.

"Just tell me."

Jacob shifted and looked him straight in the eyes making Harry uncomfortable. He stopped himself from looking away because he didn't want to lose.

"You're mine. My mate." Jacob whispered hoarsely his body swinging forward as if he wanted to go to Harry. In the end Jacob just hugged himself tighter and plastered himself against the wall looking away again.

Harry sucked air at that, he had in the passing learned about shifter and their mates. Much like their true creature counterparts they had life mates. They bonded on a deep level with them which the pack here called imprinting. Against popular believe a shifter could stall his imprinting consciously or unconsciously. It explained at least why Jacob had not gone head over heels for Harry when he first saw him.

Still Harry couldn't take it, not with himself dying and finding out Voldemort had died. Already he felt too many emotions. He could feel Jasper helping him with those but he would need time to work through all this. In short he didn't want to deal with Jacob and being someone's mate.

"I need time. I can't – Just please leave me alone, I can't deal with this too right now."

From the ground a high-pitched sound of hurt escaped Jacob and in the next moment the shifter scrambled out of the room. It made Harry feel awful and relieved at the same time. Turning his head away he closed his eyes so he did not have to see his family. He just wanted the world to go away for a while and let him be.

He had gone through hell for so many years, died to be able to fulfill a prophecy, lost people he loved and in the end he didn't need to kill Voldemort. For some reason he felt upset about this. He had been told again and again that he was to kill the dreaded evil wizard; to go through all that and then not be needed in the end was a letdown in its own way he guessed.

"Don't worry too much about it Harry. You did enough, more than others and never let anyone tell you otherwise. And never forget that all this training you did here is not for nothing, it will help you with your school, with life later on. We will let you rest, just try not to think about it too much."

Carlisle voice was soft but he needed to hear those words, to be free to be hurt and stubborn about the situation. He could hear the other murmur statements with the same advice before they left. When he opened his eyes again it was just him and Jasper, his cousin was sitting next to his bed looking at him with worried eyes.

"I'll be okay in the end Jazz, I just need time. It's too much all at once. What with how my life will be like when I get back to school. It's going to be hard. And I still have some trouble with my temper." His voice trailed as he felt Jasper's hand brush through his hair. Waves of warm soothing love embraced him, calming him down.

"You will be okay and you just take your time working though it all. Just remember, if it becomes too much you come back here and you can finish your schooling with private tutors."

That promise more than anything helped Harry relax. That was true, he had more option now than ever before. He was free of Voldemort to live his life, to not need the protection of Hogwarts and the headmaster. If it became bad now he could leave.

"Thanks Jazz, I needed to hear that."

Not much later he drifted off helped by Jasper soothing his emotions. The last few days before he had to go back were spent in quiet reflection and Jasper near him at all times to help him deal better. And all that time when he looked out the window he would see glimpses of Jacob. At those times resentment and hurt flashed up sending his emotions spinning and his thoughts tumbling around.

In the end he found himself somewhat stable again and he could accept the ending. In fact he was even glad he didn't need to kill Voldemort. Hadn't he thought just days before that him being ahead of his schoolmates was a nice thing. He could keep it up now because for once he could spend his attention to schoolwork and not on Voldemort and wondering about what plans he was scheming.

Feeling lighter he stepped aboard the plane and was off towards England not an hour later. The only thing still bugging him the most were thoughts about his mate. He had yet to speak with Jacob but Bella as a missionary had spoken to him two days back. Telling of how wounded Jacob was and that Harry ought to talk to him and make up.

God she was so naïve. Of course she had no knowledge of his life and what he was but still, she knew that Harry had a rough time and needed time to think. And as always Bella managed to agitate him, he just couldn't help but dislike her and wonder why Edward loved her. Of course somewhere in the distance he could acknowledge that she was trying to help. He guessed she just rubbed him the wrong way.

In the end he had snapped at her to leave him be and that he would talk to Jacob when he felt comfortable doing so. Her looks of hurt and disbelieve had further agitated him into sneering at her to not talk about things she didn't know as it left her looking stupid. She had run from his room then and Harry wondered if Edward would come to scold him. That didn't happen and he was thankful she hadn't run to him to complain. Still she had no right to think she was the one to _help_ him and Jacob.

-oOo-

England's weather welcomed him back with a nice rainy day. The trip to the train station was bothersome as he had to take two taxi's and got soaked while transferring his luggage from one car to another. The jet lag was killing him so when he finally passed the barrier Harry went straight to the train and found a nice empty compartment.

He was sure that his friends would look for him so he wasn't too worried about not waiting for them. In fact as soon as he put his suitcase away, all three of them thanks to Alice, Harry went straight to sleep. Even the uncomfortable seats didn't bother him.

As expected he woke up with his friends all around him. Hermione was arguing with Ron, producing a familiar scene. Smiling Harry grumbled at them about waking him up. Hello's and how are you's were exchanged in rapid succession.

Hermione telling them about the time she spent studying and doing magic. She was a bit envious she hadn't had a teacher but Harry could clearly feel her intend to bother him about tips and have him teach her all he knew. For now he found he could deal with her bossiness but he was sure that if she kept it up too long or too strong he would have to talk with her.

Ron on the other hand had to spend time with Charlie. Working with dragons had taught him a thing or two, not to mention that he now knew what he wanted to become. From there on out Hermione and Ron had a discussion about future employments and the benefits of going on to take an apprenticeship with a master.

All that time not a word was said about Voldemort. And as Harry sat there he found it bothered him. Surely it should have been the topic of conversation, especially with Harry being who he was. Feeling restless Harry wondered about Hedwig and his family back in the states but found his mind returning to the topic his friends were avoiding.

Now that he paid attention he could see that they were actually making an effort to talk about everything else just to keep away from that one thing. It had him wondering about the reason behind that decision.

"So." Harry inserted almost casually. "What did you guys think about how the war ended."

That stopped Hermione and Ron cold. They turned to him and looked pale then Hermione started crying and Ron looked away.

"Oh Harry. I feel just awful for you. All those years and all that pressure and in the end it wasn't even needed. Ron and I talked about it back when I stayed with the Weasley's and we all decided to help you work through it the best we can."

"So not talking about it is helping me?" Harry wasn't too sure if he was happy with them right now or a bit annoyed. Sure they meant well but for some reason he felt like they didn't want him to feel slighted that he wasn't the real hero anymore.

"Oh no." Hermione leaned forward placing a hand on his knee. "It just that we know how the press can be, so hurtful towards you not to mention how some of the students are going to be just awful about it. We thought if we tried not to bring it up at every point it would stir up less hurt for you."

Now he felt he could see where they were coming from but it also annoyed him. It was like they wanted to cover it up. Still he shouldn't read too much into it, they probably did think this was helping him. They hadn't lived his life after all, they didn't know all of him so couldn't know doing this would bother him more than talking about it in the open.

"I know how people are going to be Hermione, I can't really prepare for it but I would like to be able to talk with you guys. It would help me more than trying to ignore it."

"I guess mate, but I really think we should talk only in privet. You know, so we don't give the gossipmongers more ammunition." Ron added his own two cents and Harry could agree to it somewhat.

"Sure, but just don't try and cotton it up for me. I have family now that love me; I know I can go back to them if things get too ugly. So there is no need for me to suffer through Hogwarts cruelty, and therefore you guys don't need to worry yourself out of your heads to think of ways to make it better for me."

"Oh Harry, that is nice to hear but really you need to finish you education."

Harry snorted, a typical Hermione reaction that one. "I know and I can. I will get private teachers and finish that way. So now that we have sorted this out you guys can stop forcing yourself. So tell me what you thought when you heard the news about Voldemort."

Hermione and Ron looked at him and he could tell that this was the first real look. Then just as Hermione opened her mouth the train shook.

"What the!" Ron exclaimed standing up to look out the window.

Another heave send him crashing against the window and Harry winced. Hermione who had braced herself called out to him and helped him sit back on the seat as soon as she felt save doing so.

"What could it be." She wondered checking the cut in Ron's lip.

Harry wondered too and he carefully made his way out of the compartment being sure to hold on to anything in his reach. He was lucky to do so as another shockwave send student who held on to nothing flying.

Outside it the corridor was flushed with panicking students and Harry stepped back quick. It wouldn't do any good to find out what was happening, others would box him in. Then a loud boom sent him crashing into the door and he watched in horror as the train cart before his was ripped clean off.

Students went tumbling out and he could hear the part that was ripped off tumbling and crashing into other carts. People were screaming, crying and running over each other to get away. Harry only just managed to close of the compartment to keep him and his friends save.

"I think it's an attack." He whispered.

Hermione moaned and held a trembling hand to her mouth. Ron was looking out the window and turned back when he heard Harry.

"You're right, I can see death eaters, and they're coming down the sloop casting heavy duty spells to upset the train."

"What do we do?" Hermione cried. It seemed that she was too upset to be able to call upon her normal cool logic and book learned knowledge.

"We protect ourselves and wait for the train to stop. After that we get out, fight, protect and try to get away."

Ron nodded. "I learned a ward that can help, Hermione you try and think of some things we can do. I'm sure you read something useful somewhere."

"Of course, of course. I read a lot let me see." The bushy haired witch muttered, it seemed that Ron prompt helped her return to her usual self.

Harry spent a few moments putting up cushioning charms as Ron went through a rather long incantation. After that they sat silent, listening to Hermione nodded as they waited for the train to stop. The second passing by were nerve racking and Harry felt himself go through several scenarios.

Once the train stopped they would have to move fast, of course they needed to try and take as many students with them. Those objectives however didn't make it easier so he wondered what he could use to make it at least little saver.

"Ron, you know anything else we can use to shield us when we run for it?" he finally asked.

"No." The redhead said.

"I think I read something about body shielding." Hermione piped up her eyes glittering. "I even remember the incantation we should be able to do it, let me get the book."

She moved forward and threw open her suitcase pulling everything out until she found the book she was looking for. While she went through it Harry noticed that the train was stopping and he positioned himself by the compartment door. He could hear other students taking lead and warning other students against doing anything rash. It seemed those who had made it so far had regrouped and were doing what they could. It was much better than the blind chaos of moments before.

Still Harry wondered if help would be arriving. Had anyone managed to get a message out he wondered, and then he had to refocus as Hermione walked them through the wand movement and incantation. She had been right; they had the spell up and running in time.

The next few moments were spent in throwing open the door and rushing out the train with everyone else. The moment they hit the ground Harry starting to shout orders while Ron and two other students tried to keep everyone together.

Somewhere in the middle Hermione tried to tell others of the spell Harry didn't see her again until another group of survivors crashed into them causing everyone to jump in fright and some people to scream.

Somewhere in the distance Harry could see Aurors and he never felt as relieved as then. There was help out there. The relief didn't last as a death eater gunned for them and sent several students flying. Harry whipped around and started casting spells several others followed his example.

After that it was just moving and doing. Any kind of plan was gone and nothing of Jaspers lessons could have prepared him for this. It was a battlefield and he struggled over dead bodies as he and his group tried to head to the fortifications the Aurors had set up. It was hell every inch of the way and when everyone was finally safe Harry give in to his wounds and passed out.

He could not have lost consciousness for long because when he woke up he was in a field hospital with a crying Hermione sitting between him and Ron. She hugged him tight when he woke and was blubbering all over him. He managed to calm her down some before he asked her what had happened.

It turned out that the death eaters had all been caught or killed by now and at the moment Aurors and teachers were trying to locate the missing students. Hermione could confirm that Ginny, Neville and Luna were alive but she was unsure about the others and she hadn't wanted to leave him and Ron to look at the dead bodies laying in neat rows not too far from the injured. He could understand that.

That day as he wondered around, leaving Hermione with Ron, was the beginning of their supposed new school year. It was a complete disaster and he just knew he would be going back to his family as soon as possible. A part of him wanted to stay with his friends but with everything else Harry just knew it would be better for him mentally to stay away from Hogwarts, at least for now.

Maybe he could come back for his seventh year. He thought as he wondered past the dead students and finally came to a stop by a red haired boy that resembled a Weasley but was someone he didn't know.

So the death eaters had probably wanted to go out with a bang and they had certainly succeeded. His training had been somewhat helpful in this, Harry mouth twisted at the irony. Still his mind had gone blank with panic for most of the trip to safety and suddenly he decided that whatever job he would take it wouldn't be Auror. This had shown him more than enough of the ugly side of protecting life and he felt no need to spend the rest of his adult live chasing and fighting criminals.

By the time it started to get dark Harry had wondered back and joined Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna in a school carriage. They had been arriving over the last hour and slowly those that could safely travel had been leaving the battleground. It was slow going as with each batch of students two adults travelled with them to offer moral support and extra safety.

Several announcements had been made by Headmaster Dumbledore who had been fighting it seemed, his robes were torn and a freshly healed gash on his head proved that he had not gotten away untouched. He told them that school would start a month later and that students would be meeting their parents and counselors at school to help them deal with what had happened.

For once Harry had to give it to the headmaster. He had really come through; the castle was swarming with mind healers, counselors, and regular healers and in the great hall a sort of check in point was created where parents and children were reunited.

It was a beehive of activity and soon Harry found himself standing near a clutch of Weasley's. Seeing them all together made him think of Jasper and Alice and the rest of the Cullen coven. A pang of longing made him breathless for a moment. He wanted to go home.

To his right Hermione was being embraced by her parents while not much further a couple of blond witches were told that their daughter wasn't ever coming back to them. It was a mess really and making it worse were the journalist and photographers arguing at the entrance with professor McGonagall. They were so loud demanding they had a right to publish this and that it was their duty to inform the world.

Yes, he wanted to go home and leave this behind. With the attack and this going on Harry just knew that once things settled down something would happen to turn wizarding worlds attention to him. He also knew it wouldn't turn out pretty and that students would stand with him, ignore him or actively persecute him.

Looking at his friends Harry felt bad but he didn't want to wait. So he left without trying to say goodbye. Now was the best time anyway, everyone was too busy to pay any attention to people wondering around.

Still as he made his way to the entrance hall he kept checking to make sure no one was following him and kept it up all the way into town and the three broomsticks. Only there he received speculating looks but no one approached him. He made a beeline for the fireplace and before someone could stop him took out some floo powder. The next moment he was back at the station and Harry made his way out into muggle London.

It took him only a while to find the hotel Alice had taken him to all those months ago. Here he managed to make a phone call and not half an hour later he was up in a nice room taking a bath. Carlisle had booked him in online and he would take care of the tickets too. Hotel personnel would help him get some clothing and bring him his tickets.

From his tub Harry could see the huge king seize bed and the small body purse. Alice had thoughtfully bought it for him to carry some personal papers in it. He still had his passport and marauders map because of it and now wished he had placed some more things in it.

From there on the rest of the day and night were spent in a daze. He kept seeing the day repeat itself, the dead and their sightless eyes, the living screaming, crying. The rush of adrenaline was pounding in his blood making him restless, keeping him from thinking clearly. On top of it all the jet leg came back with a vengeance and it took him out like a sledgehammer.

-oOo-

The next morning started at one o'clock for Harry. He felt like something dragged in by the cat on a rainy day. A message from the hotel staff told him his plane ticket was ready and after a short call told him it would leave that night. It turned out they had some clothing for him too and he told them to bring it up right away.

So here he was sitting on the bed, crisp new clothing covering his body. And all he could think about was what a mess it was. Only now he realized that even with all the training and help he needed more because he was a mess, he needed to train mentally. He needed to master occlumency and work on his memories and get more stable mentally. All those shocks had shaken him. He could feel it and it scared him to find his emotions coursing so strongly through him.

Once he got back he would ask Jasper to find him a good mind healer. It was time to grow up and he would start not with training this time but with healing first. He was sure that with private tutoring he would be ready to get back to school for seventh year, if he wanted too.

He felt better after that, less distracted. Energy was still low but a nice late lunch had him going enough to pack his meagre belongings and stay awake during the ride to the airport. Once there he found it hard to stay focused but the thoughts of going home kept him up. He thanked all that was holy that there was no delay and not even half an hour later he sat on the airplane.

Like most of his day since the battle he experienced the trip back in a daze. He slept, ate and tried not to think too much about his friends. His heart hurt when he thought about their reaction. So instead he snorted at the irony, he had run from one mess to another. And now that the mess in England was bigger he ran once more.

He felt so twisted; he couldn't understand why this was all so hard for him. He should have rejoiced at the news that Voldemort was dead, killed by some wizard. He should have been more mature about Jacob and at least talked to the guy. He felt like such a child and then the train thing happened. It would have been a difficult year that had been a given but he probably made it worse in his mind than it would have been. Maybe he had even been selfish in his behavior.

"Would you like a sweet?" the lady to his right asked breaking up his thoughts. Harry looked at her strangely then at her hand holding out brightly colored pieces of candy. Harry shook his head but the woman didn't give in.

"Oh come on sugar, you look like you need a proper unhealthy energy intake. Take one it will lift your spirit."

He felt suspicious and then worried at being suspicious at all. He still didn't want to take the candy from her though. "No thanks Ma'am."

She looked hard at him for a few more moments before drawing her hand in and turning her attention to the screen on the seat before her. Harry let out a mental sigh before turning his thoughts on more happy things. At least she had managed to break him out of his depressing thoughts. If he weren't afraid she would take it as an invite he would thank her for it.

-oOo-

Coming back home was everything he thought it would be. At the airport everyone was waiting for him. The whole family looked worried and happy at the same time and that was when it finally hit him. He had been thinking about it of course but now that he was finally safe he could let it in. There on the middle of the airport he broke down in tears.

A pair of warm arms pulled him close in a tight embrace and for the longest time Harry didn't realize that the other was both warm and in the possession of a heartbeat. In fact even when the other spoke Harry didn't really take it in, he just reacted on instinct.

"You'll never leave without me again." And Harry just nodded, soaking up the warmth. He felt so nice being in this embrace he never wanted to leave. If he could stop this moment he would.

Eventually Carlisle persuaded them to get up and move to the car. Well he managed to persuade the person holding Harry to get up, take Harry with him and transport the both of them into the car. The warm hug was never broken but they did have to shift around some to fit on the back seat.

Jasper took the seat next to Carlisle who was the driver and Harry guessed the rest would take the second car. He was paying somewhat more attention to his surroundings but refused to think about Jacob even if the shifter was the one holding him so tenderly.

Instead he focused on Jasper for just a moment to relay his decision. "I want you to find me a mind healer Jazz. It's time for me to put myself back together."

In reaction to that statement the arm wrapped around his waist tightened and Jacob put his face in Harry's hair. Jasper however gifted him with a small smile, his golden eyes serious and sad showing Harry that he understood how hard this must be for Harry.

"I'll get you the best one." His cousin promised and Harry let himself savor the words while he let Jacob tender hold warm his heart. This was all such a mess. He had been knee deep in junk and pretended it didn't exist. Well now was the time to stop pretending and clean up. The thought scared him a lot but he was sure that with his family, and if he could let Jacob in, he would manage to get himself sorted out.

He wondered though if others had noticed and let him go on or if they hadn't seen it. It bothered him that they might have let him go on. Then he berated himself, even if they had tried to tell him or guide him to see what a mess he was he would have ignored it. It would probably have done more harm than good if they had tried anything.,

Even a few days ago he had not been ready to face the truth and except help to start to heal. He had taken their love and Remus gentle words and thought it was enough. He knew he could be a stubborn bastard and if they had tried for more he would at that time not accepted it. Only now was he ready to see that he needed more and what was truly important that he needed specialized help to get it all sorted out.

The ride back home was silent and Harry just soaked the atmosphere up like it could feed him. He could feel his dazed state recede but at the moment his swirling emotions didn't truly overwhelm him. He knew this was Jaspers doing but a small part in his mind wondered if Jacob offered some form of protection too.

His smell did sooth him. It was a wild foresty smell with a strong base of musk, for some reason it made him think of that one cold evening he spend before a fire in the Gryffindor common room with a cup of warm coco while he heard the storm outside rage. His friends had been sitting beside him and they all had just spent the evening together in silence that for some reason didn't get awkward.

Turning his head just a smidge he brought his nose closer to Jacob's chest and wondered about his life. It had been hard and unfair but he had found some good moments along the way. He guessed he had just held on to that time when everything went to hell in a hand basket and that was why he had been blind to his own mental state.

Any normal person would have known that with everything Harry had gone through maybe going to a mind healer a counselor was probably a smart thing to do. He guessed he could blame this too on the Dursleys, with the way he had been raised getting help was not something that was even in Harry's top twenty list.

When they got home Harry felt himself relax even more and he even allowed Jacob to hold him all the way up into his room. Only there he acknowledge the shifter to tell him he would like to rest alone. He was ignored however and Jacob settled down at the foot of his bed while Carlisle checked his health. Out on the landing he could hear Jasper talk and he knew that his cousin had started to search for a good mind healer.

The very next day Harry woke up to find Jacob sleeping on the ground next to him and Jasper waiting for him. His cousin had come through and he was informed that a lady Heather was waiting for him downstairs to start helping him.

Harry got out of bed as silently as he could and dressed himself hurriedly. His knew start was waiting downstairs and he felt happy that he got the chance. On his way down he wondered how long Jacob would stay asleep but only for a moment as Jasper told him that Lady Heather was an elderly witch with years of experience in healing troubled minds.

The small lady waiting for him was everything Harry could hope for. Her very presence was so soothing and gentle Harry felt immediately at peace. When she spoke it was in a warm tone and her every move seemed to be thought out. It all showed that she was completely focused on doing what Harry needed.

He therefore had absolutely no problem to go into Carlisle's study with her alone. Just as he door closed he turned around to see his family standing there and he smiled at them a true smile to show that he was ready now. Ready to sort himself out by getting well mentally, unlike what he had first done by trying to help himself by training.

It wasn't all bad of course he thought. He had needed that too and he had not been ready then to make this decision. His family had probably known that and given him what he would take at that time. Their unconditional love and a stable home he could come back to no matter what.

Turning to lady Heather Harry sat down in the leather chair. It was time to start anew.

Note from Kaicee: I hope you liked this chapter. Like all authors I love reviews so I hope you guys will leave me some, feel free to tell me anything, did you like it, hated it or do you have tips for me, I love to hear it all. So leave me lots of them :).

Next update will be Sunday.


	4. Part 4 Forward

Thank you all those who reviewed to show their support and appreciation.

This chapter was Beta's by pattyp723, the story looks much better after you went through it.

Disclaimer: In this story my mind healer Lady Heather says something I found a long time ago o a website. I have no idea where it came from and who said it but I do not own it.

**Betwixt**

**By Kaicee**

**Part 4 Forward**

_Horsey horsey don't you stop  
Just let your feet go clippitty clop  
The tail goes swish and the wheels go round  
Giddy up, we're homeward bound._

Fall had passed and Harry found that winter in Forks was a thing to be reckoned with. The roads were positively lethal and Bella's father chief Swan had taken to sternly lecture anyone who had not taken the proper precautions with their car. Bella had been telling about it one afternoon, apparently she felt somewhat embarrassed by it and Harry had wondered why.

Still he didn't spend much time on it as Lady Heather was waiting for him in Carlisle's office. They had hooked the fireplace to the floo network also. This way Lady Heather could get into the office without having to climb the stairs. When Jasper had said elderly he had forgotten to mention that the grand old woman was past her hundred year and could probably proudly proclaim to beat Headmaster Dumbledore by several decades.

Today they would work on writing letters to his friends. Not something you would think you needed help with but after several sessions lady Heather had declared that Harry would need to take his road to recovery step by step. Apparently this included session completely devoted to his relationship with his friends.

With everything else that had higher priority however they only just started with it and it probably was a good thing too. He had needed the time to firstly fix his problems with his own past. He found that he had been more affected by the way he had been raised then he had thought. It had done damage to areas that stretch out to touch things Harry would never have thought could have a connection.

In all these months Harry had started with daily session with Lady Heather and worked his way to two session a week. In those sessions they would tackle anything but they had started with his past. Harry had wondered if they should not start with more recent problems but his healer had been adamant that they could only work on those after Harry had worked on his past.

Somewhere along the way Lady Heather had mentioned that it would be helpful if Harry started up his schooling and Jasper had found him several professors who had been carefully checked out by Lady Heather. His training with Master Jean had indeed given him several advantages and all his professors promised him he could join Hogwarts for his last year if he wanted to without any problem at all.

When he finally fell comfortable with his daily rhythm Lady Heather had pulled Jacob in the mix. One afternoon the shifter had just been there. A silent companion in his sessions who did exactly what Lady Heather asked of him. The first time Harry had confronted Lady Heather about it after Jacob left the room. It had been a very memorable conversation.

"I don't want Jacob in the room when we have a session." Harry had said starting the topic. Lady Heather had reacted by calling him back to the chair opposite her with a gesture of one finely boned hand.

"I know that Harry, he affects you a lot but I have seen that you are ready to start working on your problems that inflict Jacob." As always her tone and choice of words together with her body language stopped him from digging his heels in. instead he listened to more she had to say about it.

"For you it is something hard to process that you have a mate. What makes it even harder is that you feel like it is one more free choice being taken away. You have also told me you found how you dealt with Jacob in the past was immature and childish not to mention harsh. At this point I think it is time for not only you to work on building your relationship with Jacob but for Jacob to see what is going on with his mate."

The conversation had lasted long and when he went Harry found they had actually done two sessions in one day. He had needed it though to except that from now on Jacob would be there. He didn't really like it but Lady Heather was right, he had been the one to see how bad he had handled the situation in the past. He had also been the one to express his regret about it and told her that he had been lucky with how things had gone, because rejecting Jacob as he had things could have really taken a turn for the worst.

That day he had left thinking about those thoughts but most of all about Lady Heathers parting words.

"There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial, error, and experimentation. The _failed_ experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately _work_." She had said to him emphatically as she stepped into the fire.

The words helped him like some of the other pearls of wisdom she presented him with when he needed them most. It showed him he was allowed to fail as long as he kept trying to make it work.

So here he was now working on two letters, one for Hermione and one for Ron, Jacob sitting next to the fire reading and Lady Heather guiding him with the process. His friends had of course sent him many letters since that day. Ones filled with worry and hurt, ones with words of anger and demands and ones that showed their disappointment. It had been hard reading those letters and at times they had even had a bad effect on Harry's progress.

Not one to be thwarted however Lady Heather had told Harry to let them be for now and that they would handle them together at a later date. She had kept her promise and now as he wrote she worked with him why she had wanted to do it this way.

"As you know Harry the ones that can hurt you most are the ones you care about. Therefore now that you know more clearly how your upbringing is influencing you, you can also see that you have allowed part of your relationship with your friends to become unhealthy for you. You didn't mean it too and they probably never meant to, but it ended with a lot of people having too much control over you and you letting them because you were afraid to lose them."

It hadn't been any fun hearing that especially now that he had gotten so much better at dealing with everything. He could see however that maybe some things that happened to him, that he allowed were not all that healthy for him. Still if he really thought about it he found that he had been growing to form more healthy boundaries. He hadn't thought about how to deal with Hermione if she got too pushy.

That actually made him a bit happy. He had been getting a bit better by himself and he shared this with Lady Heather.

"That is exactly what I was talking about and I'm sure you would have found a good working balance in the end. I'm just happy you came to me so that we can make sure it doesn't take you years and can't be undermined by you upbringing."

Harry could live with that and went to write his friends about his sessions and his school progress. He even explained why he had gone back without telling them. He put down in words for the first time that he had needed help and he wanted to receive this help with his family close by.

Lady Heather told him that after such an explanation his friends were sure to understand. He left the room with Jacob that day feeling good, so good he asked the shifter if he would like to join Harry in his bedroom to play a game of exploding snap.

-oOo-

With the Christmas holidays in full swing the Cullen home was packed. Vampires, Harry, Jacob, Bella and Christmas decorations were all trying to establish a working order. Alice had gone mad with the silvery tinsel and Esme had claimed half the living room for the Christmas tree and the presents around it.

Edward would play Christmas songs on the piano and Emmett could be heard hooting behind the television where he watched sports specials. Amongst it all Harry still had to go to his sessions twice a week accompanied by Jacob. It gave him a legal excuse to escape the madness and he felt a bit sorry for Jasper. His cousin looked positively frazzled by all the high spirits he was surrounded with and he could probably use a break from that much cheeriness.

Harry wasn't really sure when his relationship with Jacob become something he accepted. He guessed it happened gradually and recent session were not only about him anymore they consisted of Jacob telling Harry about his nature too. He guessed that with more understanding, his working through his problems and a healthy correspondence with his friends left him open to accepting Jacob.

The huge shifter was very particular that Harry understood that he could not hurt Harry. Not on purpose anyway, he told him that the more Harry would accept him the more in tune Jacob would become with him. It was even said that some shifters could form a link with their partner that allowed partial thought sharing and would allow them to feel what the other was feeling.

Months ago this would have upset Harry but now he found himself looking forward to create such a deep bond with someone. He even found that he was happy to have a mate. Of course he understood that it wouldn't be all sunshine and roses but he could not see himself wanting such a perfect relationship. He wanted something real, a relationship in which he and his partner complimented each other.

As Christmas crept closer Harry wondered if the house would ever quiet down. He also wondered why Bella was there almost constantly. Sure he understood that she wanted to spend some of Christmas with her boyfriend but should she not also want to spend it with her parents. She had mentioned that her mother was coming over especially for this.

When asked Bella had shrugged her shoulders and blushed. Harry hadn't bothered to pursue an answer after that and just let her be. Rosalie however got fed up two days before Christmas and asked Bella to please come back on the second day but to leave them for now. That had caused a momentary lapse and in the following silence Esme had kindly stepped in and offered Bella a ride home. Going on how it would be only right for Bella to spend some quality time with her parents.

After that Edward had been more broody but the noise and business resumed so it was easy to ignore him. Witnessing that Jacob had gone off too, telling them that he too should spend some time with his father and sisters and that he would be back on the second day to celebrate with Harry.

Christmas day itself was wonderful. Gifts had been numerous and Harry had been very happy to see packages from Ron, Hermione and the Weasley family as a whole. He also received an invitation to visit them at the burrow for the last few days of the holiday. Things were going so well these days that Harry found he thought less and less about the past and more about the future.

He didn't however except the invitation as he had planned several exams in those days. His History professor along with his Charms and Herbology professor had kindly urged him to take his NEWT's in those subjects. He had talked about it with his family and Lady Heather and decided to go for it. He was pretty sure he would go back or his seventh year but having a easy curriculum would be welcome. He had agreed with Lady Heathers remark that it would be good for him to finish his road to health by facing Hogwarts. It was after all a place that had a huge impact on his life and she was sure it would be a good experience for Harry.

So while all of that was going on Harry sat his NEWT's celebrated a special new year's feast at La Push with Jacob and the tribe and found himself looking forward to the next day, and the next and the next. Of course things could keep on being this good and the first serious hiccup came in the form of Headmaster Dumbledore.

The wizard just came to the door one day telling them he wanted to see Harry and ask him some questions. Harry himself had agreed but had been insistent that Jacob and Jasper were present during the visit. For once Headmaster Dumbledore had agreed to Harry demands without making any kind of protest. It seemed this visit was more serious than they had thought it to be.

It turned out that the wizarding world was finally ready to recall Harry. The press had started small but just yesterday a front-page article had questioned Harry whereabouts and wondered if Harry might become a threat. Of course this was small compared to what could happen according to Headmaster Dumbledore.

"At the moment." He explained. "They are just wondering, but with this article witches and wizards will feel the need to speak up and start making demands. It's the demands that have me worried Harry. Just yesterday evening I found out from my good friend Thomas that already suggestions have been made to bring you in for questioning."

Harry frowned but it was more because he wasn't surprised about the news than about the news. Jacob however wasn't used to such things and the shifter growled, his eyes glowing golden as his instinct kicked in. He also moved to stand behind Harry and Harry could almost feel his urge to grab a hold of Harry and lay his claim on him that way.

To show his appreciation for his restraint Harry reached back and took Jacobs hand with his. The shifter calmed some and laced their fingers together.

"Thank you for telling me this Headmaster, but it isn't something unexpected. It was one of the reasons why I was reluctant to return for sixth year. That on top of that first day, I just didn't want to deal with it and made me come back here." Harry sighed.

"I understand Harry, my boy. No one blames you for going. But with recent events I think it would be wise for you to return, if only for a little while."

"No!" Harry shook his head. "I am not obligated to do this and I certainly don't want to hand myself over to the likes of the ministry. It would only end up bad for me in the end, I have no need to make it easy for them."

Headmaster Dumbledore looked at him sadly. "You won't have a choice Harry. If they come to get you it will only be worse. Going there yourself will at least give you some say in the matter. Especially if you come when they haven't really gotten everyone riled up."

For a moment Harry just revelled in finding himself still calm. Normally he would have been angry or on the brink of shouting right now. Jasper however stepped up and addressed the problem for Harry.

"We understand this but we will not have Harry on his own."

"But of course, I will –"

"No." Jasper interrupted and calmly continued as if Headmaster Dumbledore had not spoken at all. "We will not have Harry go back alone. Firstly his mate will not leave his side and secondly the rest of Harry's family and I cannot in good conscious allow Harry to go back alone. He has no particular good experiences with your ministry and we as his family will not have him hurt just because they think they can."

"I understand. Very well, then I suggest you try and come up with who comes with Harry and I will arrange for those who come to have a free pass. We can't have any of you incarcerated because of the non human status law."

At once Headmaster Dumbledore went all business like and Harry just watched as his cousin and his Headmaster discussed who would come and what the conditions for their staying at Hogwarts would be. Somewhere during the discussion Carlisle entered the room and joined the discussion, which became quite detailed as the man worked out any kink that might appear.

It was finally concluded when both Jasper and Carlisle were satisfied they had done everything to provide Harry with an secure environment and people who would help him if he needed it. Besides Jacob, Carlisle and Alice would come along. Jasper would stay at home, his problem with controlling his hunger could cause a problem and they didn't want to hand the ministry any extra ammunition.

Harry agreed and not much later he found himself packing a small suitcase Jacob doing the same back home. Downstairs Carlisle was probably informing the others and arranging for Alice absence of school. They would leave the next day by plane and if everything went well would be welcomed by professor McGonagall and Flitwick when they landed.

It seemed he would face Hogwarts a lot sooner than expected. On that matter Harry spoke with Carlisle about Lady Heather and it was agreed that she would be asked to make regular visits. Harry found that this little extra arrangement helped him calm down any tension that had been left after hearing the careful constructed plan Carlisle, Jasper and Dumbledore had thought up.

-oOo-

Arriving at Hogwarts with his mate and two vampires was an experience in itself. Alice had seen the place before but Carlisle and Jacob looked around in wonder. It reminded Harry of the time when he had first seen the giant castle. He had marvelled at its beauty and wondered if he had somehow stepped back in time. It might have been built a thousand years ago but the founders had been very advanced for people of their time and managed to build a castle that even now outshone any and all castles build thereafter.

Of course since most castles had been built by muggles who never saw the masterpiece and could therefore not use it as an example. They arrived just when dinner was starting and found the hallways devoid of students. It served to make their trip to the headmaster's office very peaceful and allowed them to get in virtually unnoticed.

Being back in the office was a very strange experience for Harry. The last time he was here he had been so angry. He had asked Alice if he could be trained by her family to be taught to fight even if the odds were stacked against him. Halfway in the conversation he had been enraged with the Headmaster, for him trying to keep Harry away from his last remaining relative. Going with Alice was the best choice in his life; it had brought him Family, safety and love.

Harry stepped closer to Jacob and kept his silence while Headmaster Dumbledore welcomed them. They weren't kept for long, it seemed that Headmaster Dumbledore only had to link the vampires and shifter into Hogwarts wards so they could safely stay within the castle. Short stays were okay as long as the creature posed no threat but their darkness would not be tolerated for long periods of time without this precaution.

When this was done they moved down and made their way to the once forbidden third floor. It seemed that besides the chamber that held Fluffy a few mostly unused guests chambers where situated here. One had been prepared for the group. It consisted of a main common room, two bathrooms and four bedrooms. And when they checked out the rooms they found that the house elves had already moved their bags inside.

Alice happily spun around the common room and was delighted when the fire roared alive by itself. Jacob wondered around and seemed to hover back quite frequently to the room that was to be Harry's. With another gesture the Headmaster had an elf bring some food for Jacob and Harry so they did not have to go to the great hall.

That night Harry found himself to mixed to get any proper sleep even if he was suffering from jetlag. In the end he wandered into the common room not surprised to find Jacob sitting on the couch with a mug of something hot another waiting on the table for him.

Smiling Harry crawled next to him and enjoyed his hot chocolate. They sipped from their drinks and spoke of nothing. Eventually Harry managed to fall asleep in the arms of his mate on the couch. It wasn't the best position to sleep in but swirling thoughts and surging emotions didn't bother him. Lady Heather had been right; coming back to Hogwarts was something else than just talk about it with her. It was good to do this to help him close of some lose strings.

Morning brought with it the scent of breakfast and a very rare sight. Sitting before the fire was Alice and she was singing. From the look on Carlisle face this was not something common and Harry just watched and listened as she sang a song of dreams and change. When she sung it for the third time Harry could finally place it as the song of the Cranberries, dreaming my dreams.

A shiver went down his spine as he listened to the words and saw Alice looking so fragile. In the end he had to get away from it and together with Jacob they left the room.

"I've never seen anything like it." Jacob whispered as they wondered down the halls.

Harry shook his head. "I never even knew she could sing. I think it has something to do with her past. Maybe when something like a memory gets close she retreads into herself like that." He wondered.

"Listened to you, sounding so smart. Maybe you should go on and learn to be a mind healer of your own." Jacob spoke warmly as he pressed Harry against his side.

Looking up Harry's eyes took on a thoughtful look. "You know, I think I would like that. I get to help people but I don't have to chase down bad guys and risk life and limb." The more he thought about it the more it appealed to him.

He had of course thought about healing before but facing sickness, broken limbs and blood each day did not appeal to him so he had put it aside as a career choice. But this, this was something different yet allowed him to do what he did best. Helping people but not at risk of himself or his health.

"You know." He continued. "I really, really like that. In fact I'll ask Lady Heather about it the next time we speak."

Jacob merely smiled. "Well I have no problems with this kind of job. I would however stop you if you went for something as volatile as Auror. I don't think my instincts could take it."

This time it was Harry that smiled. He and Jacob had talked about his past dreams and telling him about his onetime decision to become a wizarding police officer had nearly send Jacob growling. The thought of Harry chasing after someone dangerous went against his instincts and it clearly took him some effort to calmly answer to that remark.

Harry spent the next minutes telling Jacob he did not want to do that anymore, that the train accident had been the final straw. After that they hadn't really spoken about what kind of job Harry would like to do again. So they found themselves speaking of it so casually now pleased Harry for some reason.

In the end they found themselves meeting students, Harry was actually a bit surprised it had taken so long. Trying to get away from the group of fifth year Hufflepuffs was another matter entirely. It seemed this lot was in favor of Harry and each one of them just had to tell Harry that they would support him against the accusations the ministry was making.

Jacob looked down on them in amusement and Harry wanted to poke him in the side. When they finally did get away they almost immediately found themselves walking into another group of students and Harry wondered if Hogwarts student body always moved in packs. Now that he thought about it they probably had always done this he just hadn't really noticed it until now.

It all ended however with Hermione and Ron rushing towards him. It had taken the Hogwarts gossip line more than an hour but news of Harry's arrival had finally reached them and his friends had been surprised but pleased. At least if Hermione crushing hug and half sobbed words were anything to go by.

Introductions had to be made and explanations told so Harry offered to take his friends back to the guest quarters. Hermione had looked troubled, as she and Ron would have their next class in a few minutes. Knowing Hermione as he did Harry took no offence.

"We'll just meet after the class. Just go to the third corridor and go down the hall past Fluffy's chamber. You'll see several doors there and we're the one with the stone statue right next to it."

Hermione listed to Harry's explanation closely before thanking him and taking off with Ron in tow. Harry just shook his head at them and turned around to head back to their room.

"She's always been like that about education. Too serious and sticking to the rules but when all is said and done she is a person you can count on even if it means she has to stray from her own believes." Harry explained.

"A true friend then." Jacob responded and Harry nodded in relieve.

"Yes, just don't let her nagging and bossiness fool you like most people and you'll find that she has a golden heart. Ron is the same, all awkward and temper but when you need him he is there."

The way back took a lot longer as more and more students just seemed to meet them. Harry wondered how many of them would be late for class. Then he amused himself with wondering how all the professors were taking this little rebellion, because surely they knew what their students were doing to end up late for class.

The most notable meeting on their way back however was Professor Reilly. It appeared that she was the new defence teacher and Harry had a sinking suspicion she was doing exactly what all the student had been doing, seeking him out.

She had not counted on Jacob if the look in her brown eyes was anything to go by. For moments she just stared at him, letting her gaze wonder up and down his mates body. And for the first time Harry felt jealousy. Emotions started to swirl and none of them pleasant as he stepped closer to Jacob, showing the woman he was Harry's.

While Jacob didn't have any problem enjoying Harry staking his claim, in fact he wrapped one arm around Harry's waist in response. The professor sucked air and her eyes snapped towards Harry's face.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter. I'm Angela Reilly, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor." She didn't reach out her hand while introducing herself and her words didn't really sound like a welcome. "I didn't think I would meet you, the Headmaster had informed me that you would not be here this year. Has this changed?"

She did not wait for an answer and immediately went on to what she had probably wanted to say from the very beginning. "Well, in any cause I guess I might as well let you know that I am also a member of the Wizengamot and designated liaison between those who will be conducting your interviews and yourself. I will also be the one to report your behaviour whilst you are staying here and I would suggest you show proper manners because I will not look away just because you were thought to be important for ending the war at one point in time."

Unsure how to take something like this Harry stuck to being polite even if it was rather hard with her obvious disdain of him. She was probably one of those who believed he was some spoiled little brat. "Of course Madam Reilly. It surely is an unexpected meeting but I thank you for letting me know about your roll and for you taking the time to inform me."

Reilly snorted and after one more look at Jacob walked off in a huff. Jacob snarled softly as she went and Harry pressed himself against him in agreement.

"Nasty piece of being." Jacob finally said and with that they were off again this time reaching their room without further hold ups.

Back inside Alice, who was acting like nothing out of the ordinary had happened that morning at all, welcomed them. Her happy bubbling nature cheered them right up and in a much more relaxed state Harry told Carlisle of what he had seen and heard so far.

-oOo-

The visit of Hermione and Ron was nice. Ron seemed to have some problem with Harry being Jacobs mate, but it came more from thinking Harry and Ginny would someday end up with each other and not because Jacob was male. Hermione didn't even blink at the news and congratulated Harry on it with enough enthusiasm for three people.

To avoid things getting awkward Harry moved on to asking about Professor Reilly and received an earful. According to Ron she was a good teacher but suffered a rotten personality on par with Snape. Hermione seemed to struggle with this as she kept interrupting and saying that surely Professor Reilly had her reasons and that in any cause she was one of the best teachers they ever had.

She only frowned when Harry told her of his encounter as if she found it hard to let go of her defensive post. He wondered why Hermione wanted to defend the professor so bad when she clearly saw that she wasn't a nice person. It ended with Hermione moving on to a new topic, this time about schooling.

Ron groaned throughout the conversation and Hermione was happy and jealous at the same time when she heard that Harry had already taken several NEWT exams.

"Tell me about them." She demanded extracting a moan from Ron.

"Come on 'Mione. Let off. They're probably no different form OWL's so there is no need for Harry to talk about it in detail." Ron spoke up.

Harry felt a bit sorry for him. He no longer had to listen to Hermione endless lectures of spending enough time studying for this or that test. "Ron is right Hermione. The testing is pretty much the same only the level is more complicated and such."

It was quite clear that was not a satisfactory answer for Hermione but she was prepared to let the subject go for now.

"Well then. " she offered instead. "What are your plans for dealing with the ministry? I know that the Headmaster will help you and that your family will try and keep you as save as possible but I'm sure those who conduct the interviews will be biased at the very least."

Harry had to agree with her there and Jacob who had wondered away some time ago grunted from the back of the room. For a moment Hermione looked at him before turning back to Harry, her brow raised in question.

"There isn't a real plan yet, I think we're going to discuss it tonight when the Headmaster knows more about what is going on and we have some knowledge of what we are dealing with." He could tell that Hermione wasn't satisfied with this answer any more than his description of NEWT exams.

"Oh Harry, really. You should have down some research by now on it. Of course you might not have access to the right books but I can help you there. I took the time to go to the library before we came here and I brought some things with me that might be useful."

Next to her Ron rolled his eyes. "She was a bloody hurricane, set Pince of something good. We nearly got kicked out if there." He volunteered and Harry could actually see it happening. It also reminded him that he had yet to return the books he had borrowed almost a year ago.

"Ronald!" Hermione admonished. Before she could go on however the Headmaster arrived. This seemed to be the sign for Hermione and Ron to go but not after Hermione had personally dropped a stack of books on Harry lap.

"You better read those." She ordered. "They will tell you all about rules and wizarding etiquettes and such. I even found you a book about past ministry investigations on persons. It should help you get a better picture of what might happen."

Harry thanked for her trouble and saw her and Ron out the door. Once they were gone everyone gathered around the hearth and the Headmaster filled them in on what he knew and the measures they could take. A big part of the conversation was spent thinking up any kind of evidence they could call upon to testify on Harry's sound mind. They decided that Lady Heather could play a huge part in that.

Not only was she well respected inside the wizarding community, she was also an expert on mind healing and had been called upon by the ministry itself to give her opinion on cases in the past.

-oOo-

The ministry interviews to found out if Harry was of a sound state of mind, why they needed to investigate this made Harry wonder but he guessed he truly didn't have a choice in avoiding the whole thing, turned out to be more of interrogations instead.

Sure he wasn't tied to a chair or forced to talk to the members with no one there. At all the interviews at least one of his guards was with him. Still the interviewers managed to make Harry feel like he was in trial and each answer could get him imprisoned. It wasn't the best circumstances to keep Harry from thinking the worst and at times he found himself wondering what might happened to him when they were ready to cast their verdict.

At the same time he found the whole thing absurd. He was angered that the ministry dared to accuse him of being liable to go dark because someone else had killed the dark lord. Really, who would be jealous of that? Sure Harry had been unsettled by the whole ordeal, he had died to make it possible for someone to kill the dark lord. Of course no one but his family and mate knew that and he wasn't going to tell them because it was more likely they would write it off as visions of grandeur on his part. It would also likely serve as a strike against him and since he really couldn't get a feel on how he was doing he didn't want to provoke them in any way.

As the days past Harry grew tired of the endless list of questions asked that each question be talked about until he was sure even Hermione would get bored with it. If it weren't for the silent support from his family he probably would have taken it a lot worse. The sessions with Lady Heather helped too.

Their first meeting taking place at Hogwarts was spent talking about how he felt during the interviews and if the investigation had any real base. It was also the session that Harry asked about working as a mind healer.

Lady Heather had pleasantly surprised him by smiling brilliantly at him and actually showing excitement. It seemed she liked the idea and offered to bring him reading material when she came back for their next session.

The next session she didn't only bring books but a list of possible schools. She had even found additional information on the schools and written suggestions and opinions on all of them. Harry found that her behaviour had him reading the books at a speed he seldom reached. Not to mention that the more he read about it the more he was sure this was the profession for him.

-oOo-

It was well over a week before Professor Reilly turned up again. Unfortunately it was during an interview and it was the worst one Harry had to go through as of yet. Not only were the questions more offensive but Professor Reilly felt the need to make derogatory remarks when Harry answered and put in her own two cents when she found Harry's answer unsatisfactory.

It was a long and infuriating day and for the first time Harry could feel his old temper stirring up. Scowling he had forced answer through his stiff lips running a mantra mentally about keeping his temper in check and be as helpful as possible. Still when he was free to go he couldn't help but shoot from his chair and be out of the room faster that they could have said, foul play.

After that first meeting it seemed that the professor had made it her personal mission to be at all of his interviews. Her partners reacted to her in different ways but Harry was always glad to see those who didn't take to her methods and didn't let her run the show. One of the interviewers even told her that if she wasn't civil she could leave the room. Harry had enjoyed the rebellious look Reilly had shot at the interviewer but she had held her tongue for the rest of the interview.

After another particular trying day Harry found himself outside sitting near the lake. The weather was nice but he didn't notice it. He felt insecure and regular bouts of doubt had him on edge. It seemed that Professor Reilly was finally getting under his skin and from all that he knew of her that was probably exactly what she wanted. To make him doubt and create fear so that he would mess up.

A large warm body settled down beside him and then wrapped itself around him. Harry allowed it and sank back against Jacob's chest. He had been taken more and more comfort from the shifter and he felt genial happy that they were getting closer to each other. The only thing to stain the process was the circumstances it was happening under.

Still he couldn't complain. As he came more and more into himself Harry found he enjoyed being Jacob mate. He liked the thought that they fit together. The thought that Jacob was the person he needed and that it was the same for Jacob made him happy. He was what Jacob needed and that thought more than anything else was cause for making him happy.

"The Headmaster came to our room today. He told us that you have only one more interview and then you will have one day were they will have you do some practical tests. After that it will be just waiting for their verdict." Jacob whispered in Harry's ear causing him to shiver.

"I would like to say that it sounds like good news but I'm pretty sure the tests will be highly hypocritical and designed to point out at every turn that I'm not all mentally sound." Harry voice steadily grew in volume and Jacob pulled him back at the end brining his mouth against Harry neck and kissing him.

The gesture was unexpected and the shivers of delight it caused equally so. Harry gasp and his body moved even closer to Jacob.

"Everything will be okay. Lady Heather seems to have made it a personal offence that they dare question her verdict. I'm pretty sure that brittle old lady will set the roof on fire if they actually dared to suggest that you're not mentally fit."

Harry hummed and thoroughly enjoyed the kisses Jacob placed along his neck while he reassured Harry. As the pleasant feeling inside him grew Harry felt like he was missing something, that he wanted more. At that point he wasn't paying the slightest attention to Jacob's words anymore and suddenly he knew what he wanted, a proper kiss.

Turning his head just so he caught Jacobs next kiss with his lips and the tiniest second it was nothing more than lips pressed together. Than it changed and soon Harry found his mouth joined with Jacobs and their tongues caressing. More pleasant shivers wrecked his body and heat began to pool near loans.

He was sure they could have gone on for a long time but a coughing sound interrupted them. Jumping out of Jacobs embrace Harry looked at who had surprised them and felt relieved when he found Hermione looking back at him.

She offered him a embarrassed smile, her cheeks pink from what she had seen, before she explained why she was there. Apparently it was time for dinner and Hermione had wondered if she and Ron could join Harry back in his guestroom.

-oOo-

Harry had been right about the tests. Each one of them was rigged so obviously he felt like shouting or even better yet, crying. One of the tests involved an illusion of a burning building and a victim still inside the house. It felt so real Harry hesitated in approaching the house as the heat hurt his skin.

Other tests consisted of similar moral dilemmas, who to save, what to do under certain situations where it was either him or the other. They were completely unfair and again Harry wondered why he was tested so. Surly this could hardly be normal thing for the ministry to do. It all felt a bit too personal too him, like the ministry was out to get him because he had done something to them all.

That night he asked the Headmaster that exact question and was met with a sad look. It seemed like all the weight of the world suddenly settled on the old man's shoulders as his posture sagged.

"As always prejudice rules within the ministry. I have not gotten to the bottom of what is going on yet but I think it is safe to say that some of Voldemort's more hidden supports banded together for yet another strike."

"What." Harry was baffled. Voldemort had been dead for some time now and after the attack on the train he thought it would finally be over but here he had the Headmaster saying that devout believers were still trying to get their message across.

"Why me, it was someone else who killed him so why drag me out again."

"I understand your need to find out the answer to that Harry. Sadly I can only guess at their reasoning. I'm sure that your prominent role of many years has much to do with it and perhaps they are even offended that it was someone else and not you who laid the final blow to Voldemort. In the end it only matters that they do not succeed."

Harry frowned he really didn't like this. It sounded all too much like they were starting up their organisation again.

"So even if the ministry clears me other things might happen. Do you have any idea sir on how to get to the root of this problem?"

Dumbledore's posture rose some. "Yes indeed Harry. In fact Alice had a very useful vision the first night back. She and your cousin are working on something I believe will help us greatly in finding out the last remnants of Voldemorts loyal subjects. While she works from here with me your cousin is travelling around the globe to confirm some of the details of Mrs Hale's vision. When he has the evidence we can start our own case against them."

The tone of the Headmaster voice sounded just a smidge satisfied and Harry found he agreed. Surely he would finally get his well-deserved rest if they got every last one of Voldemorts active supporters. Still now that he thought about it there was always something happening to him that made him thing that if that one thing was solved he could start living.

First had been when he went away with Alice, then again when he decided to go home after the train incident and accept help. Now he found himself thinking the same thing again only this time it would be after the last death eaters were locked away. It seemed that there was no real new start to your live, just one continued forward motion.

Your path might change and the people walking on your path with might come and go but never would there be a complete new start. He had been foolish to think it really. If all his sessions with Lady Heather had taught him one thing, no matter where, when or what you carried your past with you and it shaped you like nothing else in the world could.

Note from Kaicee: Thanks for staying with me. Originally the story was supposed to end with chapter 3 but I found I had too many questions and open endings so I kept on writing. I would like to ask what you think, do you like it that I'm going to show more of Harry's new future and give you more of Harry Jacob relationship?

Ps: Do any of you play online games? I myself play Lord of the Ring's online and Aion.

Next chapter: Bagging the criminals and Harry confesses his love. Update is on Wednesday.


	5. Part 5 Forever After

The next chapter, as always I want to thank all those who read this. To all those who respond thanks, it is always great to know a story you write is appreciated. I also changed the pairing this story is archived under, it seemed to upset some of the readers to see Harry/ Jasper and the story being a Harry/ Jacob romance.

Warning: mention of sex, nothing explicit.

Beta'd by pattyp723 who did a wonderful job in cleaning this chapter up and making it shine that much more.

**Part 5 forever after**

_Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are?  
Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky  
When the blazing sun is gone, when he nothing shines upon,  
Then you show your little light, twinkle, twinkle all the night.  
Then the traveller in the dark, thanks you for your tiny spark,  
He could not see which way to go, if you did not twinkle so.  
In the dark blue sky you keep, and often through my curtains peep,  
For you never shut your eye, 'till the sun is in the sky.  
As your bright and tiny spark lights the traveller in the dark,  
Though I know not what you are - twinkle, twinkle little star._

Everyone was gathered together in the guest room the evening Harry's verdict would be announced. Sitting scattered through the shared living room Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna found themselves playing card games with Harry, vampires and a shifter.

Well it was more like they pretended to play as the Headmaster conversed through the floo with one of the officials. Lady Heather sat on a wingback chair she had conjured right next to the fire, her eyes focused on the flames as if she tried to see through it to listen in on the conversation.

It seemed to take ages before Dumbledore pulled back out his face however was happy and the entire room burst out in shouts of joy. Harry found himself wrapped in many arms as he was passed from one person to the next. Receiving congratulations and well wishes.

They celebrated well into the night and had the Headmaster repeat the conversation two times, asking again and again if there was any chance of them coming back on their decision. In the end Harry was quite sure that it would not happen and that he was for the moment save from the ministries persecution.

A slight damper on the fun was Ginny's clinginess. She would every once in a while squeeze her way between Harry and Jacob. Every time Harry pulled away she would look hurt and go of on her own to talk with others but in the end she always drifted back to him. He wondered if she might have had too much alcohol. Because he and Ginny actually had a rather long talk about Harry being Jacobs mate. She had been accepting of it in the end but now he thought she might have been pretending.

Halfway through the celebration he found himself actually talking about it with Hermione. By then they were all probably a bit drunk. Jacob was off again after another interruption of Ginny. The shifter had looked uncomfortable and Harry just knew he didn't know what to do. He couldn't react to Ginny the way he would normally react but that left him wondered what he could do.

Drunk or not the conversation was very enlightening. Hermione's insight on Ginny offered him some answers to her behaviour and he had been right in thinking she hadn't accepted it completely. Ginny had been quite in love with him for years and to just let it go didn't only hurt her but pretty much broke all her hopes and plans for the future. As Hermione said it would take her time to get over it but in the end everything would be just fine.

Another round of shouts rang out when the paperwork came through the floo. With this everything was official and that was when the Headmaster left. He made a copy for Carlisle and took the other one with him telling Harry that he would keep it save for him. Just in case his copy ever got destroyed.

As Harry laid in his bed that night he found that he had forgiven Dumbledore for his past decisions. The man had done a lot for him in recent events and would do more still. He guessed he could let it go that he had kept secrets for Harry. Or maybe he had just grown up and saw that the man had truly tried to do what is best. He had failed but that was only human.

As time passed Harry found that he could not sleep. Too much energy from the good news and release of tension kept him up together with the way Jacob had looked tonight. The flashes of uncertainty in his eyes when Ginny did something had only made Harry care for him more. Suddenly in a split second decision he was on his feet and of to Jacob.

The shifter was awake too and the moment he saw Harry face poke around the door he pulled up his blanket in an silent invitation. Harry gladly accepted and snuggled against him. Jacob's warmth was very welcome and Harry hadn't even known he had been so cold. It wasn't long after that he fell asleep Jacob's arms wrapped around him and his heartbeat a soothing lullaby.

-oOo-

Next day came along with heavy rainfall and thunder. The wind was howling loudly and Harry was sure that everyone was reluctant to do much today. Still he found that breakfast was worth getting out of bed for if only because of the news Alice had for him and the rest of the family.

It seemed that Jasper would be arriving within a week time with evidence Alice had seen in her vision. She was quite happy about it and chattered on about being able to see the vision much clearer now which she assured, meant that is was less and less likely to change. The culprits would be caught, tried and locked away according to Alice. Her only regret was that she could not see them clearly and could therefore not give any kind of working description.

To keep themselves occupied Harry decided to go to several of the classes and check out what his fellow year mates were doing whilst Carlisle would frequently leave the castle altogether to check up on the family back home and pick up any messages Jasper might leave for him on his voicemail service.

Days passed slowly and Harry found that not only was he ahead of his friends, he was well past normal NEWT material. Unfortunately Hermione found out and he soon found himself dragged off to the library and forced to take her through the subject he had been going through. Sadly of course one day in the library wasn't enough so for the next three days Harry found himself stuck there answering Hermione's never ending list of questions.

At one point he would have probably been cross with her but now he found he could indulge her without growing too tired with her. Of course that didn't mean he wasn't glad to get back to his room at night and go to bed with Jacob which had by now also become a regular thing.

He found he slept better and got more rest with Jacob beside him than if he slept alone. It was a welcome change in their ever-growing relationship. Even though knowing that there were still death eaters at large kept him from enjoying the progress too much.

Then came the day Jasper arrived. His cousin looked positively peaky and his eyes held a dark brown color indicating that he was struggling for control. At one point Harry had asked Jasper if he found it hard to be around Harry and Jasper had told him that it was much easier than staying around muggles. Still going into a school filled with potential dinner walking around who thought that because of Alice and Carlisle Jasper might not be much of a threat was taking its toll.

It also showed Harry that it had been truly the better choice for Alice to pick him up last year. His cousin would probably have had a hard time to control himself and with the Headmaster stand back then it might have send him flying over the rail.

No one was surprised when the Headmaster himself came into the living room escorting Jasper. They were not touching and Harry wondered for a moment if the Headmaster might have pulled some tricks out of his bag to not only make it easier on Jasper but also provide some measure of safety to his students.

Greetings were exchanged and Dumbledore called a meeting at once giving no one any time to get settled. Once they were settled around the breakfast table Jasper pulled out several packages from his backpack. Most of them were wrapped in the usual thick brown paper many stores used, but a few of the things were in sealed envelopes.

Spread out before them were clues so to speak. The items showed quite clear however that their owners were up to no good and since some of the plans they depicted had already happened it was excellent material for a trial. In fact Harry was really happy about it all, sure they didn't get any names but Dumbledore was quite sure they could trace the people behind it now. He even guaranteed it wouldn't be too hard.

One piece however was very telling. A small black book that held lists upon lists of names, some scratched out with notes written besides them showed that it was a sort of bingo book. After readying some of it the Headmaster was quite sure it belonged to Bellatrix.

Hearing that name stopped Harry heart for a moment, the sensation wasn't pleasant and he felt color drain from his face.

"She's still out there?"

"I'm afraid so. Though Bellatrix might come off as a complete lunatic she is still very crafty and a very powerful witch. She has been eluding capture for years now so it isn't' that much of a surprise. What helped her however was that she wasn't taking part in the attack on the train. I think she was already getting together with whoever the rest of this little group is." The Headmaster answered.

It sounded unlikely that Bellatrix would skip on something as fun to her as attacking a train filled with children however. Still another thing that made him doubt about Bellatrix being part of the group was that she was not a patience woman. And this group was both patience and careful in organizing their plans of the evidence and Harry's recent close call were anything to go by.

So they discussed the other pieces Jasper had brought the Headmaster paying extra attention to each piece loudly wondering if he could recall seeing it before or hearing someone talk about it. Several of the knives showed evidence of being used for their plans and even had initials engraved into them.

"We will track down their maker, he will have a list of the buyer. It might even be the witch or wizard who used the knife but if not it will give us an starting point we can ask who they sold they knives too." Dumbledore announced placing the knives apart from the rest.

"I think we have done all we could for now. I'll take this with me and set my friends and colleagues to work on them. I think with our reach we won't have to look very long indeed to track down the culprits. After that it is only a matter of gaining approval to use the hounds."

That remark made Harry sit up. "Hounds?" He queried.

The Headmaster who had been standing and ready to move to the door stopped and turned back to the table.

"Of course you wouldn't have heard about it. The hounds are a very ancient piece of magic and takes a group of thirteen witches and wizards working together to succeed in casting the spell. Because of what it does and the power it cost the ministry only gives her approval to use it under special circumstances. I think that finding this group of death eaters warrants their blessing as the hounds can find them as long as we know their full name."

That had Harry baffled. "Why weren't they used during the war? It sounds like they would have come in handy then."

Myriads of chances flashed by him. They could have used them in so many instances it wasn't even funny, in fact he could feel tears gathering in his eyes. It seemed the Headmaster followed his thought process as the man sat back down with a deep sigh.

"It isn't all that clear cut with ancient spells. While the hounds don't ask for much of a prize the spell itself is still tied by the ministry. That is what I mean with approval. The ministry unties the spell for a short while so we can use it then they bind it again. It keeps just anyone from using those powerful spells. During the war Voldemort had his men everywhere not only to spy and manipulate but also to keep the spells that could help us bound. And of course those who followed him worked very hard to keep their full names hidden. Now that he has gone however much is revealed and it will not be as hard to get the names and with the ministry cleared out of his supporters for the most part we can finally get the chance to use them."

Harry nodded while the rest of the audience just looked intrigued. He hadn't know about the ability of tying spells up so no one could use them but it was something he could see the ministry do to show who was boss. The Headmaster however left this time and so Harry lost his chance to ask about that. Tying up spells, who would have thought that possible.

Once the Headmaster was out they urged Jasper to tell them about his trip that had taken him through several countries within Europe. It wasn't any particular exciting story as most of the times Jasper had to go through junk or painstakingly follow up on endless leads until one paid off. Harry was glad though that his cousin had done this for him.

They broke up soon after that, as Jasper got edgier and edgier, his eyes going black. Alice and Carlisle went with him leaving Jacob and Harry alone. The shifter turned to him with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes.

"How about doing a game." He offered and Harry looked at him in wonder for a moment.

"What kind of game were you thinking about?" He finally asked and almost wished he didn't when Jacob eyes lit up further.

"Nothing much, just the question and answering game. We can spend our time in front of the hearth getting to know each other better. Or more precise I get to know more about the wizarding world." Jacob spoke with obvious satisfaction and Harry laughed.

"No need to play games, just ask me what you want to know and I'll promise to answer all questions I'm comfortable with."

"All right." Jacob grinned and Harry found himself slightly breathless. This gorgeous man was his, all his. A shiver went down his spine and he could feel the heat start to pool again. Swallowing he followed Jacob and settled down before the hearth with him. The fire was crackling happily and it helped Harry control his reactions somewhat.

Still he was happy when Jacob started to ask questions so he could focus on those instead of his swelling member.

-oOo-

Another two days passed before the Headmaster came back with an update. In that time Harry had another lengthy conversation with Ron and Hermione, filling them in on what was happening and for the first time since getting the ministries verdict had a run in with Professor Reilly.

She seemed to be in a particular nasty mood as she rudely rushed passed Harry down the hall knocking him into the wall in the process. Ron emitted a loud curse but was shushed by Hermione. Rubbing his shoulder Harry focussed his attention on Hermione, he hadn't asked about it the last time but after this he just wanted to know why Hermione defended the woman.

His question seemed to unsettle her and for the longest time she didn't answer. When Ron and Harry however persisted, showing her that they would not move another inch until she told she gave in.

"It's not my story to tell." She tried to reason but Harry affronted stare seemed to bring the message that such an excuse would not work over rather nicely.

"Oh alright. I saw her at the start of turn in a rather hurtful situation. It seems that her younger twin sisters died in the train accident and while she was pouring her heart out to her fiancé he just interrupted her and told her he was breaking the betrothal. I think that is enough to have anyone be nasty and mean. So I just ignore what she does most of the time because I simply cannot unsee and unhear what I discovered that day." By the time she finished her story her voice was hitting those quiet hissing tone that warned the boys not to bother her more or risk a good hexing.

After a minute of silence Hermione stormed off in a huff leaving the boys behind. Ron rubbed his head clearly feeling rather awkward.

"I just thought she was born mean." He offered and Harry shook his head at that statement.

"Well. It still doesn't give her any reason to focus her anger on me."

Ron grunted in agreement and they started walking again. Halfway down the hall Ron stopped and turned to Harry his face thoughtful.

"I wonder who the fiancé was."

Harry looked at him strangely not expecting that remark at all. He had to agree though, after hearing what the guy did he was slightly curious himself about who the fiancé had been. It was probably something they would never find out.

The next most notable thing had been Alice offhand remark on Harry checking his book on bonds again. She even told him what section to read and it brought him to marriage bonds. The title of the chapter shocked him enough that he dropped the book. His eyes widened as he followed its downward path to the ground where it stilled.

With sweating hands Harry picked up the book again and started to read the chapter feeling guilty with each word he took in. Somewhere in his mind he compared it with reading a dirty magazine whilst the stakes were high of being caught. The information the chapter contained was interesting and it clarified about different bonds, all if which could be used to marry wizarding style.

It was while he was reading more about bonding with creatures that Carlisle informed him that the Headmaster was back with news. Everyone was already sitting at the table and Alice smiled at him as he entered the living room, her eyes glittering with mischief. Jacob was his usual warm self and had saved the seat next to him for Harry. His hair was still slightly damp from his shower and the back of his sweater was soaking up the water the wet spot getting bigger.

Smiling back at Jacob and after sticking his tongue out at Alice, Harry focussed on the Headmaster who had watched it all with his grandfatherly composure, blue eyes twinkling. Harry repressed the urge to roll his eyes and just counted his blessing that no one felt the need to make a remark about it.

"As I expected we had no particular trouble finding out the names of those who are very likely the members of this group. I even managed to have the evidence processed faster and everything is ready to make an appeal to use the hound spell. " Dumbledore began. "I thought however that you would all like to join me when I go make the petition. I think it will be good for the ministry to be reminded that have been fairly unjust in some of their recent dealings. It will serve to make them that much more willing to unbind the spell for us."

So it was back to using him again Harry thought with a just a hint of sarcasm. He found though that he didn't mind to badly.

"I don't mind too much but won't they kind of object to having vampires there. I'm sure they won't really mind Jacob but Carlisle, Alice and Jasper might be too much for them."

"Even then I think it will still benefit us to have you all there. It will show that you are an united front and have no problems coming to the ministry." It seemed that the Headmaster was pleased with his plans and Harry could see how after the stunt the ministry pulled making a impression on them would help. Then it could just as well harm them but he guessed that they just had to chance it.

From there the conversation went to planning their visit and several questions on safety Carlisle and Jasper had. It was all quite boring and Harry found his thoughts wondering back to bonding and from there to Jacob.

Their mate bond would only truly be complete when they consummated it, but from what he had read so far he and Jacob could have a second bonding ceremony that not only strengthen the mate bond but allowed Harry to live without aging until Jacob gave up his Shifter side. Then they would both start to age again and die. It was a scary thought because it would mean he had to watch his friends' die. It would however also allow him to stay with his family longer and he and Jacob had the benefit of having years together in good health.

His thoughts were disrupted as Dumbledore stood up. It appeared they had finished and he had no idea what had been decided. Looking around hoping to hear some stray words that would give him some idea he found himself out of luck.

Dithering around he lost his chance to ask the Headmaster himself and wondered whom of the others to ask. Carlisle was heading back to his bedroom, probably to think, and Alice and Jasper were whispering amongst themselves. Shaking his head he turned to Jacob.

"Can you give me the conclusion I kind of stopped paying attention." He whispered to his mate. Jacob smirked at him and waggled his brows.

"It will cost you, let me see." He tapped his finger against his lips pretending to think it through. Harry slapped him on the arm playfully and Jacob mock growled at him.

"Pushy, pushy. Well I guess a nice kiss will be enough this time."

Harry rolled his eyes but closed the distance between them and reached out. The kiss was soft and long and warmed Harry from the inside out. That was when he just knew with all his heart that he loved Jacob. He loved this big shifter that could burst out in jealous rages and changed into a wolf so big Harry could ride him. His heart almost burst from the realisation and part of him wondered why he had not noticed it earlier.

Surely the signs would have been all over the place. Taking a step back Harry looked into Jacob soft brown eyes and smiled. Nothing in the world could be better than knowing you were with the person you loved.

"Well, that is certainly more than enough I guess I can bear to repeat the outcome of the conversation we just had. In short we will go there tomorrow, Dumbledore will take with him the needed thirteen people so they can do the spell as soon as they get permission. All we need to do is be ready by ten and come with to make an appearance."

"Thanks Jacob." He wanted to add the "I love you" part but he couldn't voice it just yet. It was all to new and he wanted some time to get used to it before he told Jacob. What was more he wanted to confess in a place where they were alone so that whatever happened after he said those world would not be interrupted.

For now he would just read some more about bonds and maybe after they had consumed the mate bond he could ask Jacob if he wanted to have a ceremony and take another bond. Any thought on elemental bonds had been pushed back the same way his desire of being an Auror was let go of, if he wasn't going to be a fighter why bother adding another weapon to his arsenal.

-oOo-

The huge hall had not changed much since Harry last slightly illegal visit. The golden statue however had been replaced with something else. It now held only a witch and a wizard and from there wands sparkles rained down in a myriad of colors. It was tacky in Harry opinion and suited the ministry image of itself just fine.

Scowling at it Harry made hast and let out a mental litany of sarcastic comments as the elevator doors closed before him taking away the sight of the statue. The Vampires and Jacob however were busy looking around marvelling at all the other witches and wizards wondering about.

It was actually quite busy Harry now noticed. A flock of yellow robed wizards were standing at one corner of the elevator talking to each other in a strange language. A shrivel up witch was standing close to Harry's group and was eying them one by one. Of course there were also the thirteen people who would help Dumbledore with the spell and, Harry blinked, it appeared several goblins that had taken over the other corner of the elevator.

The ride wasn't long and soon the Headmaster guided his group through several corridors, which seemed to be having a color theme going on. Bright colored arrows pointed their way to different stations and from what Harry could see they were either following the green arrow or the red one.

On their way they were stared at a lot, it seemed like people did not regularly enter these domains and therefore the employees had to stare at them for as long as they could. It might have been uncomfortable but being surrounded by family and his mate made it easy to ignore a lot of things.

Things had definitely changed and much for the better, he was happier and healthier than he had ever been and in an hour or so the last remnants of active death eaters would be taken down. He couldn't believe it could really take so little time but then they hadn't had this option available to them back when Voldemort was alive. And before that it seemed evidence had been sparse so they had not been able to build a good case to use the spell.

Of course back before Voldemort came back Malfoy and many others had ways to control the ministry so even if evidence had been plenty it was unlikely they would have gotten approval to use the spell. Sometimes Harry really detested the corrupt system the ministry worked on. It might have been better if Voldemort had gotten around to destroying so they could have rebuilt it from scratch instead of filling in the wholes Voldemort supporters left behind when they were caught.

When they stopped moving Harry took the time to look around and found they had been following the green arrow. An oak door was opened and they were let into a large waiting room. The chairs were rather mismatched but comfortable and the witch behind the glass was friendly and offered to bring them some refreshments.

Even getting the initial papers ready wasn't a problem. The problem turned up later and came in the form of two witches that glared at everyone inside the room and of whom one let out a soft scream when she saw Alice. It was probably a good thing Jasper was not there as with all the people there to challenge his control volatile emotions might have made him snap.

The screaming witch introduced herself as Lady Ives-Downten and her colleague was called Mrs. Rose but you can all just call me Denis. The younger Denis might have a pleasant way about her but her message was the same as Stiff Lady Ives-Downten. We do not want to agree with this and how dare you even ask for it.

Their attitude didn't seem to bother the Headmaster he just waved one of his party forward. The wizard that stepped from the group was somewhere in his thirties and partly bald. He looked stern but once he spoke Harry was pleasantly surprised by the dark smooth voice.

He introduced himself as Toni Clearwater and informed the pair that he was representing a law firm that had handled the case. It seemed that while the ministry got the evidence also an independent law firm had worked on it. It seemed that the Headmaster knew that the ministry, or more likely some people in the ministry would try to stop them.

Toni carefully stated that they had filed everything right and that there was no reason to refuse this plead. Denis looked thoughtful but Harry wondered if she was really contemplating what was said or if she was only pretending. Fortunately the minster himself interrupted them.

Rufus Scrimgeour barged straight in the air around him crackling with his annoyance.

"What is this Maoragh." He waved a thin piece of parchment around and Lady Ives-Downten complexion went several shades paler. But she drew herself up high and showed absolutely no other sign of having done something wrong.

"This is a reasonable request. I would actually go as far to say that this is more reasonable than some of the other requests we got here and actually granted permission." Scrimgeour went on moving closer to her.

"If I may." Lady Ives-Downten interrupted.

"This requests uses items that have not been legally procured and are therefore not to be used as evidence in any case. That includes asking us for the use of the hounds spell."

Scrimgeour actually snorted at her and his gaze glided over Denis who shrunk and pointedly looked away. "Well then it seems we have a problem as I think this is perfectly legible and since the people named on this list will get a fair trial in which they can defend themselves I see no problem at all granting permission." Scrimgeour voice boomed.

"Well I never." Lady Ives-Downten protested. "We cannot just bend each and every rule to suit our purpose, that is what got us in so much trouble the first time around and I will not give permission!"

As if watching a tennis match all the heads on the room swivelled from Scrimgeour to Lady Ives-Downten as they took turns speaking. Denis was standing rather limply besides the lady, trying her best to not be noticed.

"You can take your protest up to the Wizengamot then, for now I have ruling vote and I say they can use the spell and I will take any punishment the Wizengamot throws at me because this is for a good cause." Scrimgeour finished.

Lady Ives-Downten puffed herself up further. "Well I will certainly file my objections, now I you will all excuse us Mrs. Rose and I will be on our way to start the procedures."

"Well than ladies what are you waiting for unbind the bloody spell so they can use it." Scrimgeour barked his eyes on the door as if to be certain Lady Ives-Downten didn't return to protest some more.

The witch behind the glass gave him a two-fingered salute and disappeared from sight. She returned only a few minutes later with a huge scroll. It was tied with so many ribbons and wax the scroll itself was barely visible. Sitting back behind the counter she started to painstakingly remove each seal placing them in tiny brown colored boxes on her desk.

Once she removed the last seal she rolled the scroll out and took a step back with a short nod to Dumbledore she indicated that the spell could now be used.

At once a circle of thirteen was formed with the Headmaster leading the spell. Harry and the rest took to sitting down at the other side of the room joined by the minister himself. Harry watched as thirteen people worked together signing a song in old English. He could feel the power built up and from Jacobs fidgeting he felt it too.

Then slowly wisps of smoke and mist started to form into dogs. Sleek greyish white hounds formed within the circle walking around sniffing the witches and wizards. When the song faded away Dumbledore threw the lists of names into the circle and Harry watched as dogs started sniffing it.

For a moment they all watched in silence as the dogs pushed past each other to sniff the scroll. Then even they went silent, sitting back on their haunches all with their head turned to the Headmaster their eerie black eyes focussed on his face.

At some signal the circle broke and the Headmaster ushered one word. Go. And they went. The dogs shot out of the room faster than bullets leaving thin trailing lines of smoky ribbons behind. Since there had been nineteen names on the list the spell had created a dog for each of those names and according to calculations most of the people would be staying together. So in theory thirteen people should be enough to follow the dogs trail and pick up the suspects.

Standing up Harry moved to the door but was stopped by Carlisle who pulled him back and gently steered him into Jacob's arms.

"I think it is better if you and Jacob stayed here and let us handle their capture. It is very likely they will put up a fight and from what I have heard about their kind they will use anything to their advantage."

Harry didn't like it but he had to agree. It stung of course but he understood that it was very likely that the suspects would try to use Harry against his family or try to trick Harry into thinking they had one of his family. Not to mention that he had come to the conclusion by himself after the train attack that he wasn't really the battle kind of guy.

"I think they had enough time to locate the general direction of their prey. Let's move out." Dumbledore spoke up. "Everyone got your travel gear on? Right okay be careful and never follow a trail with less than two people. Let's go."

On they marched followed closely by Alice, Carlisle and minister Scrimgeour. Behind the glass the witch was sealing the scroll, binding the spell so that it could not be used. It would probably take them a while to bring everyone in so Harry walked over to her and watched her work.

The process of sealing took roughly as long as removing them and Harry wondered at how long the woman had to study to be able to do this. Probably had taken an apprenticeship with a master since he didn't believe she could have learned it all just by following a more specified education.

After she was done she went away to probably place the scroll in its right place before coming back and sitting down behind her desk. This time she looked at Harry her brow raised in question.

"I just wondered how much you had to study to be able to do that?" Harry blurted put. Thankfully she didn't look affronted but rather it seemed she was pleased by the question.

"I took three years of studying at the international school of Roan. I followed several classes there and then in the mean time I took test to get my apprenticeship. At one point one of the masters found me proficient enough to offer and I left the school to spend a further nine years learning sealing from my master."

She sounded really proud and Harry found she had all reason too. To be able to put so much time into learning just so you could become proficient enough in one string of magic was quite mind boggling. Training to become a mind healer would be a long journey too but Harry already knew he wouldn't mind the years it took.

"You always wanted to do this job?" he asked at which the witch shook her head.

"Oh no. This is just a rotation job my fellow workers and I do. My main job is working at the great library of Alexandria. We spend a lot of time taking care of ancient documents and object there. To give us some down time we have to work here for about three weeks every three to four months."

The look on his face must have shown her that he wondered why because she went on to explain the reason for it.

"You see sealing is a fairly precise job and it takes a lot out of you mentally and magically. To make sure we rest our minds and magic we get send here. It's a little bit like vacation since we almost never have to actually do anything and we only get to work three to four hours a day for five days."

"Sounds good." Harry responded.

"Oh yes." The witch nodded her eyes shining. "It really does wonders for you to have regular breaks if you have a high demanding job. Not to mention you get to visit family and friends while back and sometimes they ask us to give lectures and stuff. "

Unsure on what to say to keep the conversation going Harry was surprised when she asked him a question.

"So what do you want to do for a living?" she seemed truly interested in the answer.

Harry actually found himself blushing and he couldn't help but look at Jacob who was once again sitting on one of the stiff chairs. His mate grinned at him showing a flash of white teeth. Grinning back Harry turned back to the witch.

"I want to become a mind healer. I have already have someone who pointed out the best schools for it and she will also help me with other things. I'm really looking forward to it."

"That is a very fulfilling but heavy job you're going for. I guess you could take my work routine as advice for when you start working." She responded then went on to telling Harry about her niece who had been training to become a specialist healer to treat cursed victims.

"I told her to take plenty of rest every now and then but Aria was always very stubborn and she kept right on going. In the end her boss forced her to take a vacation or he would fire her without recommendation. She was in tears but after a few weeks she could see it was all really for the best."

From there Harry was treated to many more stories and anecdotes on her family and co-workers back at the library. It seemed she really loved her job as she returned to talking about it. All in all it was a interesting few hours and Harry actually felt sorry when Carlisle came to collect him and Jacob.

He waved goodbye and only when he was outside did he remember he had never once asked her for her name.

-oOo-

Carlisle brought them back to Hogwarts and Harry felt slightly disappointed that he didn't get to see the suspects. Then again it wasn't really important, what was important was that they would be tried and put away. Alice vision had however answered that question so Harry found himself closing the subject. Then again he also knew that he would get updates on the process so that made it slightly easier he guessed.

With that their stay at Hogwarts came to an end. Goodbyes were said and invitations to visit over the summer vacation exchanged and Harry left feeling happy. The trip back was so different from all those other times and with Jacob next to him he even had a good sleep on the plane. Jasper and Alice had opted to use different means of travel and promised to try and be as fast as possible.

Back home Harry resumed his schooling and finished his therapy with Lady Heather. Now she just visited so she and Harry could talk about his education and so that the old lady could give him advise on courses he could take at the school he could choose from.

Halfway through April his other professor advised him to take his NEWT's in their subject too and Harry decided he would finish his schooling early so he could start on his follow up education come September. It would mean that he didn't get to spend one last year with his friends but he was sure they would not mind too much once he explained.

In fact he was pretty sure Hermione would be ecstatic whilst Ron would wonder if Harry had gone mental.

All the while Harry followed the prosecution of the group the Headmaster and the other had brought in faithfully. It seemed that Lady Ives-Downten had gotten her way and the evidence Jasper had collected was not to be used for the trials.

Emmett hadn't been too pleased with that and spent many a night complaining about it. He brought it back up so much that in the end Harry asked him if he found it somehow personally offending. That had shut him up for all but three second before Emmett went on to complain about annoying little brothers.

Harry was relieved however when in the next addition of Daily prophet the journalist told of evidence found that could be used. It seemed that the Headmaster and Toni had been planning just such a thing and had procured several search warrants for the estates of some of the suspects.

For the next few days there seemed to be a battle on whether the search warrants were legal and if therefore the new evidence could be admitted. The whole thing read like some crime novel and Harry found himself actually waiting impatiently to the next edition of the Daily Prophet just so he could find out what had happened next.

Meanwhile his exams came up and he found himself swamped with revising what he had learned and preparing for his practicals. Lady Heather came by a few times and he narrowed down the lists of school with her. Some nights if he took some distance from his own life he found he was positively buried under all the things going on.

Of course his and Jacobs relationship grew and they even had some dates to show Forks that they were now an official couple. That had dug up some nasty responses but Harry found those easy to ignore. His family and mate would harm anyone who wanted to actually do something to him and Jacob.

On another note contact with his friends was almost daily now. Hermione was both glad for him and jealous of him. She congratulated him on getting an early start and doing something so worthwhile. Ron on the other hand seemed a bit offended that Harry wouldn't come back to school with them for one more year. So for a while Ron only send short messages but he did write and finally he seemed to understand that this was something Harry really wanted and that it made him happy.

Things went more smoothly after that and by the time he and his friends were okay again his exams were over and all he had to worry about were the results and the ongoing trial. By now it had been decided that the search warrants were in fact legal and that evidence procured with it useable in trial.

Really the only thing that bothered him most was that Bellatrix was not among the captured witches and wizards and that no one seemed to know what happened to her. All that could be told was that she was alive and obviously staying somewhere.

There was even a small column dedicated to her. It was very accurate as far as Harry could tell and he found himself looking for articles from the same writer, one Ellie Donnel. She didn't disappoint and Harry was pleased to find that all her article were well research and according to Hermione the research was top notch to be able to sustain such accurate articles. He filed that away for future references, that if he ever needed someone to write about him he knew whom to request.

The day his test results came out was also the day that three of the nineteen suspects were sentenced and the journalist was sure that the rest of them would follow the same path. His results were satisfying and Lady Heather assured him it was more than enough to enter the school of his choice.

Harry had chosen a school Ireland that was situated away from society so that Jacob could roam. It had been decided that Jacob would come along as they had found out that being apart from each other was distracting and with long amounts of time could turn distressing. Jacob would start to feel like his mate had died while Harry experienced the feelings of being abandoned.

It had taken them hours of kissing and cuddling until they felt somewhat normal again. Jasper had looked green during the whole process and it seemed that their feelings bothered him strongly. Alice had found it cute whereas Emmett had found it funny. Rosalie had not shared her mate's opinion and had made him sleep on the living room couch for two days. The family had found that highly amusing and even Edward could be seen sporting a smile.

So that summer vacation Harry, Jacob and Lady Heather went to visit Rain as the Irish school was named. The headmaster was an old friend of Lady Heather and Harry soon found out that the man was very open minded. He found no problem with Harry's application and chosen electives. He wasn't even faced when Harry asked for a private room for him and Jacob in fact he acted as if it was a natural accordance.

The Headmaster explained that most wizards and witches attending Rain had relationships and that long ago the school had decided to provide their students with small apartments instead of dorms. An entire new building was built on the school premises for just this purpose and it had been running for sixty years now.

What did pose as bit of a problem was Jacob's own schooling. Billy had been very adamant that his son finish his education and not so subtle hints showed that he would like to see his son go on to attend college. In the end a solution was found in way of a private hook up to wizarding pub closely situated near a muggle school.

Their next visit was to this muggle school and to arrange for Jacobs school record to be transferred. Once more there didn't seem to be much of a problem. Jacob would have to get used to some of the thicker accents and some of the subjects he took could be done differently here.

Being able to look forward to his next school year and everything arranged for both him and Jacob the summer was perfect. More and more of the suspects were found guilty and sentenced just as Alice had seen. Harry love for Jacob grew and they got physically closer and closer to each other with each day.

As summer came to a close the last of the suspects was found guilty and sentenced. Hermione and Ron visited for week near the end of August and they had a blast. Hermione was fascinated with the tribe and the lands in general and Ron found it that with his second stay at Charlie and working with dragons that he liked working with the wilds and the shifters lands were teaming with it now that the wolves were back.

Harry amused himself as his two friends wondered around the countryside talking about the beauty of it and that more than just shifters should protect it. Ron even went as far as to say it should be shielded of as a sanctuary and magical being brought in since it would be just the thing for griffins and some of the smaller breeds of dragons.

At one point Harry wasn't sure whether to love or be afraid since his friends sounded very serious about it all. He even brought forward that they could hardly claim the land as it already belonged to the muggles who had been living here for centuries and would find it odd if the land suddenly wasn't there anymore.

By the time his friends left Harry was unsure if he had thrown up enough reason for them to stop planning. With Hermione being who she was it would be worse than a dog with a bone she still worked on her S.P.E.W. project and was showing no signs of relenting.

Still he had other things to worry about and surely two students couldn't just confine the local ministry to make a sanctuary. The last days of summer were spent buying books and products he would be using at school. Alice had been busy refreshing his wardrobe; having found that Harry would be wearing uniforms severely cramped her still but also presented her with new challenges.

A slight upheaval at home took his friends completely of his mind because it was the first time he found Bella and Edward arguing. From the words being used he guessed this had been a problem for some time now and he found it involved Bella's desire to be turned and Edwards believe she shouldn't.

Poor Jasper fled the house as the emotions became too much and Jacob watched the process with fascination. At one point Edward told her of their treaty with the shifter which involved no changing humans and Bella threw out they could just leave for a short while. Jacob apparently felt the need to add his own opinion and things went from bad to worse after that.

In the end Bella left crying and Edward sitting like a statue on the couch his eyes seeing things no one else could. Rosalie opened her mouth but her mate took her away before she could scold Edward and in the end only Esme approached him with Alice looking on from the sideline.

Harry had dithered around besides Alice having never amounted such a situation before. At one side he didn't really care for Bella on the other side Edward was family and he wanted his family happy and in Edwards case that seemed to involve Bella. More and more reason sprung up after that but he felt uncomfortable that he just didn't want Bella here.

Jacob had joined him when he went back to his room, as he rarely went home anymore. Safely away from all the drama he and his mate joined on the bed hugging each other and in Harry case listening closely to his mates heartbeat. Then out of the blue he said it. Those words he had been holding back for some time now.

"I love you."

The reaction was instant, Jacob sat up pulling Harry with him and he looked so happy. Smiling widely his eyes alight with something special that made Harry heart flutter. The hug was crushing but it was the words that did him in.

"I've been waiting to hear you say that. I'm so happy Harry, I love you so much and there is nothing in the world that you could give me that means more to me than those few words."

Harry felt like crying then. He had been holding something so important back from Jacob. Something that made his mate really happy but before he could say anything Jacob kissed him. This one kiss meant more than any of the others instantly made him hard. Groaning he pulled back hesitating for a moment then he decided. He had promised himself that he would go all the way and he found that wanted it, no needed it. He needed their mate bond to be complete.

Pulling his pants off Harry moved back so he could get rid of the rest of his clothing Jacob was following his lead, his brown eyes now golden and shining with excitement at what was to come. Soon after they found themselves naked in each other arms kissing, licking, biting and murmuring words of love and enjoyment.

They made love well into the night and Harry loved the feel of Jacob inside of him of having his mate joined in the most basic of ways nature had provided them with. It felt wonderful after he had gotten used to it. After that there was no thinking and just doing, being.

Come morning Harry was positive this had been the best night of his life and as he and Jacob just lay there Harry brought up the bonding ceremony he had read about in his book. In responsive Jacob pulled him on top of himself and kissed Harry on the nose.

"I would like that." He whispered. "When?"

Smiling Harry laid his head down on Jacob's chest and whispered.

"Let's do it the day before we have to leave. This way Alice, Rosalie and Esme can arrange to their hearts content and you can inform you father and sisters so they can all be there."

They both chuckled at the thought of Alice and Esme, sure that the two vampires would be delighted in arranging everything and Jacob appreciated that he would be able to have his entire family there. Before they could go much farther they were interrupted. Esme stood in the doorway holding up breakfast and the boys looked at each other before Harry waved her into the room.

"What is going on?" he asked because Esme had never before brought him breakfast in bed.

"Edward has taken off and we don't know where he has gone." She answered finally. Harry was unsure how he felt about this but right now he wondered more about how the rest of his family felt about it.

"Is it because of the argument he and Bella had last night?" he just wanted to be sure it was about that and not about something he might have missed. Esme nodded her head.

"All Alice can see is that he is struggling and needs time away from us all to think in peace. Edward has never been like us. He believes that being a vampires means he has no soul, he does not want Bella to give up her soul to join him. Then of course there are many other things, she will have to watcher mother and father die, watch friends whiter away, he doesn't want her to experience any of that."

"Not to mention he would break the treaty if he changed her no matter if it's here or somewhere else." Jacob added. Frowning Harry turned to him opening his mouth to say something then closing it looking thoughtful.

"You are right Jacob. On top of everything else is the treaty we made and none of us wants to break including Edward. All of it became too much for him and so he left. Still, no matter what it hurts me to see him so." Esme's voice trailed off.

There was an uncomfortable silence in which Harry felt like a spoilsport for still wanting to tell his family his good news while all the drama was happening. It might seem like he didn't care if he told them now. Jacob seemed to feel his thoughts as his mate wrapped himself around Harry and whispered in his ea that it would be okay.

Decision made Harry addressed Esme.

"There is something Jacob and I would like to tell the whole family."

Esme looked surprised for a moment and then pleased. "Oh Harry that is just wonderful. I'll just gather everyone in the living room dear and I'll see you there."

In retrospect it wasn't really a surprise that Esme guessed what the something Harry wanted to tell was. Really it had been something they had probably seen coming ages ago. Of course Alice probably had seen some of it already.

It was worse. Once they got down Alice was jumping around like she had a smidge too much sugar and Jasper was smiling. Everyone else was just smiling politely for Harry and Jacob to make their announcement. Harry decided he wouldn't keep them waiting.

"First I would like to say that Jacob and I finally consumed our mating bond." Lots of hoots followed that statement and Harry had to wait until everyone was done with congratulating him and Jacob and Alice gleeful looks and sight didn't help any.

"Well then thanks, but what I also wanted to say is that Jacob and I will be having an additional bonding ceremony and we would love it if you will all attend and I would like to ask Alice, Rosalie and Esme to arrange it."

Alice cackled as she skipped around hugging her mate and being just herself really. Esme and Rosalie were much more subdued thanking Harry for the opportunity and congratulating him again. The rest of the family waited for the woman to be finished before stepping forward themselves but it was Carlisle who asked if the bonding would do something extra.

"Yes." Harry answered. "It will. It allows me to be with Jacob just as I am now, not age that is, until he gives up the shifter side of him in which case we will both start to age again. It like being able to spend a long time with my family and mate and this way I can have it."

For a moment there was silence then everyone started talking all at once. It was hard to understand but from what he could discern they were all happy but worried for him. They seemed to wonder how he would feel losing his friends and such. In that Harry though he could give them some relieve.

"I know that and I thought about it for a long time but I'll have my mate and my family. I will get to do a job I know I'm going to love and- and it is worth it." He finished up. His family settled down some after that and ended up talking about the date Harry had picked and how much they could get done in such a short time.

Somewhere among the mess Jacob excused himself to inform his own family and Harry guided him to the door before heading back to the living room. There he found the high spirits slightly dampened as they wondered about Edward. Again Harry felt a stab of guilt for coming with his news just when his family had something sad happening to them.

Jasper picked up on that and padded his hand elevating his guilt showing Harry that it was all right. He just had to be positive and hope that everything would be all right.

Note from Kaicee: Only one more chapter after this and then the story will be finished. I hope you guys liked this addition to the story, let me know what you think, reviews are really appreciated.

Also if anyone wants to fiddle around with my idea on seals go ahead. I would love to read a story with Harry being a seals master.

I will also be posting a one shot tomorrow with a Blaise/Harry relationship, check it out if you like that pairing. The name is Stand my ground and tells their story in a series of snapshots taken throughout time.

Next and last update will be Saturday.


	6. Part 6 The End

The last chapter, enjoy.

Beta'd by the wonderful pattyp723 who made sure the story is much cleaner and nicer to read. Thank you pattyp723.

**Part 6 The End**

_Mary had a little lamb,_

_whose fleece was white as snow_

_and everywhere that Mary went,_

_the lamb was sure to go._

_It followed her to school one day,  
which was against the rules._

_it made the children laugh and play  
to see a lamb at school._

_And so the teacher turned it out,  
but still it lingered near,_

_And waited patiently about  
till Mary did appear._

_"Why does the lamb love Mary so,"  
the eager children cry._

_"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,"  
the teacher did reply._

The big day for Harry and Jacob's ceremonial bonding started off with somewhat of a downside as Bella chose that day to visit them after she had left the house crying a week ago. She shifted around uncomfortable as she eyed the decorations. And really it was a sight to behold.

Alice, Rosalie and Esme had gone all out and turned the place into a fairytale looking theme. Tiny twinkling lights were hidden carefully within flowers and ribbons that ran around the house. It made the light almost look like real fairies in Harry opinion.

Bella however felt upset by it and left the house to join the rest of the family outside where Esme had a huge garden portal constructed of flat stones and wildflowers. The thing was massive and utterly beautiful, Harry and Jacob would be standing under the arch as they took the bond.

That was when Harry noticed her as she hovered just neat the back door her eyes taking in the garden. From the look on her face he guessed she was thinking about what reason there could be for the portal to be there. Feeling a bit sorry Harry approached her, calling out her name so as to draw the attention of the rest of his family to her.

Esme was the first to react greeting Bella warmly and softly guiding her farther away from the door. Bella said something to her but Harry couldn't hear. Before he could try and listen in Jacob turned up at his side and dragged him away for a few kisses. The shifter had been high on energy since five this morning and Harry wondered which of them was suffering from nerves the most.

One would thing with already having the mate bond complete would in theory mean having a second more formal bonding wouldn't faze you so. It seemed he had been wrong however and wished he had his friends here. That had been impossible however but he did receive presents and cards from them when he told them the news in a letter.

He guessed they could have a proper celebration when Christmas holidays came around. Jacob and he could visit the burrow. A few shouts from the back drew Harry and Jacob back into the main part of the garden and were surprised to find Bella looking distressed, her eyes tearing up and Alice hovering beside her looking uncomfortable.

"He's gone?" Bella spoke. It seemed they had finally told her Edward had left the house and had not been heard of since. They only had to odd vision here and there from Alice but even she could not tell more than that Edward was fine, just struggling with himself and his emotions.

"But why would he do that to me. It was only an argument I didn't think he would leave me completely." Bella went on tears pouring down her cheeks. Jacob shifted beside Harry uncomfortable, he had at one point fancied himself in love with her after all and still had a soft spot for her.

"Oh Bella dear." Esme spoke up embracing the girl. "Edward loves you but there are things, reasons you don't know about and you wanting to change upsets him. He believes you can be happy together just as you are."

Bella wrung away from her grasp. "But I don't want to grow old and die. I want to be healthy and young and stay with Edward always."

Harry winced. Here were those things he didn't like about Bella. What he disliked most however was her blatant ignorance of the world. She was still so naïve and most of the people here had gone through more things than she could even dream of. Well except maybe Jacob who hadn't gone through a lot himself but then Jacob didn't have that teenage feel and acting.

From the back Rosalie spoke up. "Could we do this on another day. We are going to have a marriage ceremony in a few hours and all this wailing brings down the pleasant and happy atmosphere that usually go with such feasts."

"Rose." Esme called out looking hurt. Rosalie sniffed and stalked of obviously having enough of the whole ordeal. Bella looked like someone had slapped her and Jacob took a few steps in her direction before stopping and looking at Harry as if to ask permission.

"Go on your still her friend just be back in time for our ceremony." Harry smiled at Jacob who looked grateful. The shifter went to Bella and guided her away back into the house and from there probably in his own car.

Bella kept quiet the whole time as if she could quite grasp what had been said to her and Esme wrung her hands followed the pair inside probably to check if she could do something for Bella.

For a few moments everyone else was silent then Emmett made some insane remark and everything righted itself. Everyone went to work on the check list Alice had hung up to make sure everything was perfect and by the time lunch was served for Harry everyone was pretty much okay again.

After lunch Billy arrived with Jacob's sisters. It became much more lively and soon everyone forgot about the rocky start that morning. Around two Jacob came back bearing tales of Bella's break down at home and how he had felt uncomfortable just leaving her so he had stayed with her for a little while.

Harry assured him he was fine with it and that he was here now was the important part. As the hour grew closer to four Harry found that his nerves were working overtime and he kept wondering around the portal touching the wildflowers and stones. Jasper followed him closely and Harry noticed how his cousin would step in when his nerves got too much.

Then it was finally time for the ceremony and Harry just knew that he and the family missed Edward who would have played some beautiful melodies for this occasion, instead Esme had hired a small group of magical musicians who played nice music hut it just wasn't the same.

The wizard conducting the ceremony was stately in his black and white robes. He was also very tall easily able to look over Jacobs head. Brown eyes were turned downwards on the ribbons he was working around Harry and Jacob's hands while he spoke the words of the bonding.

With each crossing of the ribbons they glowed showing they had connected and when they were bound to seal the promised the whole thing lit up before it sank into Harry and Jacobs joined hands leaving behind something that looked like a faded away tattoo.

Harry and Jacob turned around showing their hands to the public who cheered out congratulations and whished them well as they applauded. Then the ceremonial wizard officially opened the buffet, which had all been prepared by Esme and Rosalie.

Alice had created a small plaza more to the back of the garden and had placed small tables and chairs everywhere and on the side two huge tables held the assortment of food. There was so much to choose from that Harry took his time going over everything before choosing grilled meat, baked potatoes and salad. For desert he was going to get the ice with strawberries and whipped cream. It looked positively delightful.

While they ate Rachel was shooting a ton of pictures having taken over the duty from Rebecca who had taken pictures during the ceremony. The entire party was nicely done, Jacob's sisters marvelling at the musicians and Rachel asked Harry questions about magic.

Harry answered her in full. With the shifters coming back the tribe had gotten their status back in the magical world, which meant that Jacobs sisters could know about it without breaching the secrecy statue. At one of the tables Lady Heather was talking to Billy Black it seemed that it was an interesting conversation as neither of them paid attention to the rest of them.

They broke up when darkness had fully set in and Harry apologized and explained that he and Jacob would be taking their plane to Ireland tomorrow. Billy was very nice and he wished the pair the best of luck and a safe trip.

That night on the zero hour Jacob and Harry could be found standing naked under the moon. Their hands joined and the marks glowing. The ribbons they had used had been specially chosen as each color represented something they wanted to cherish in their bonding.

Taking deep breaths Harry watched as locale fairies came to them and flew around playfully in the light of the moon and their mark. It was magical to see and Harry felt sorry they couldn't take pictures of this part of the ceremony. Then again he only ever wanted to share this memory with Jacob and not anyone else.

His mate and lover bowed down then and kissed him deeply and the world seemed to vanish as feelings took hold of his mind. They sunk to the floor and completed the ceremony by joining their bodies and offering the magic created from it back to the earth. Above them the fairies went crazy as even the air became charged with tendrils of magic. It was a strong bonding and it would leave this place more magical than the rest of Quileute land.

-oOo-

If Harry had thought yesterday and the days leading up to his ceremony had been chaos he found himself corrected. For one he and Jacob overslept and then they found they had completely forgotten to pack. Harry was mortified that he could have forgotten this and so for the next two hours chaos reigned in Cullen home as everyone was trying to help.

Of course that caused more problems as people blocked each other or accusations were spouted as one person brought something downstairs placed it somewhere were someone else would pick it up and pack it so that the first person would not find it when they got back. If they hadn't been on such a tight schedule Harry might have found it funny that even vampires could have trouble with some of the mundane things in life.

The trip to the airport was much more mundane and when they got there Harry was slightly surprised to find that they could board right away and that no delays had been given for their flight. Another round of goodbyes and kisses and Harry and Jacob were off to their checkpoint. It wasn't until they sat down that Harry let out a relieved sigh.

The flight attended a bleached blond with bigger than average lips with crimson red lipstick applied. She was being overly sweet and it gave Harry the creeps, what offended him however was her obvious flirting with Jacob who did his best to be polite.

When she went on to the next good looking guy Harry couldn't help but glare at her and hope she wouldn't be coming back to them. Jacob rubbed his knee and kissed him on the head as he whispered a sorry which annoyed Harry since Jacob had nothing to apologize over.

Throughout the flight the attendant came back several times. She behaved well and never did something truly improper but she kept getting too close to the edge. It left Harry uncomfortable and from the way Jacob kept leaning into him when she neared he thought his mate probably felt the same.

When they landed Harry felt grateful that they would fly to Ireland with another company since it would get them away from the woman. As they left she even handed Jacob a small white card with two numbers on it. His mate looked at it then back at the attendant before he let it fall to the ground. He watched her as she followed the piece of paper fluttering down her face drawn.

Feeling a bit better Harry left the plane and headed for the exit. They had a short wait for their next flight and he wanted to get something cold to drink. To his relief the rest of the flight wasn't remarkable and they found themselves landing in Ireland sooner than they expected. As they left the captain informed them but Harry really didn't pay any attention to it.

He and Jacob would stay in a hotel tonight and had over to Rain first thing tomorrow. If all went well they only had travel to the local witches lane in Dublin. Much like Diagon alley Dublin possessed an alley or in the older tongue witches lane. From there they would floo to the academy and get settled into their apartment.

A good thing about Rain was that it gave it students one week to adjust coming back to school. The week was filled with introductions and seminars and Harry was quite excited to meet his new classmates. It also gave Jacob some time to get used to the trip he would have to take to his new school as the academy started earlier than the muggle schools in Ireland.

-oOo-

Dublin's witches' alley was pleasantly filled with witches and wizards. The shops called out to Harry but he ignored them and made his way to the nearest pub. The pub called Greenie was filled with a handful of students and it seemed more people than Harry used the pub to get to their school. Smiling Harry made his way to the end of the line and patiently waited for his turn.

As always he stumbled out of the hearth and only just caught himself by grabbing a nearby chair. The room to his relief was empty and seemed to be especially designed just for floo transport. He stepped away in time as Jacob came rushing out coughing. His mate had his eyes closed as he stepped out and had Harry not moved he would have bumped into him.

Laughing Harry watched as Jacob went from coughing to sneezing, his eyes watering. His mate fixed him a watery glare, which made Harry laugh even harder. The sound seemed to have drawn attention as a witch dressed in clean pure robes of a deep maroon color peeked around the open entryway then came into the room.

"Good morning, welcome to Rain my name is Miranda Gulden I'm a professor here. Would you please give me your name so that I can check you in and give you your information packet and key."

"Of course, I'm Harry Potter and this is my mate Jacob Black."

The witch nodded and left the room Harry and Jacob followed her and found that just around the corner something like a information desk was set up. Professor Gulden sat back behind her desk and leaved through the cabinets' drawers, which were labelled with numbers instead of letters.

Harry watch in amazement as her chair rose to reach the higher drawers just like an old-fashioned barber chair. Than did a double take as he saw that it was an old-fashioned barber chair. Complete with steel footrest and tacky colored fake leather upholstery.

She finally located his file and at once the chair fwooped back down. Professor Gulden placed his papers on the desk and took out two keys, several papers and a small book.

"Now I hope I don't have to explain what the keys are for so I will go on to more urgent matters. This book is a small dictionary our school provides, it not only gives information on the school but also on all its professors, classes and anything related to those things. We find that students appreciate it and regular consult in their first few weeks here at the academy."

She handed Harry the book and his keys then picked up the papers.

"Well than this is your map and this one has your apartment number and floor on it, then this one is the program for the welcome back week. If you want to join any of the introduction programs or seminars just fill in your name beside it and you can check on the paper if you're placed there and receive a location, date and time. This last piece of paper you'll need to get signed by your dorm head that will also be the person you go to if you have problems. Was there anything you wanted to ask?"

Handing the book and keys to Jacob, Harry took the papers and shook his head. He couldn't think about anything he wanted to ask.

"No not really, thank you Professor Gulden."

"Sure, sure. Have a nice time here at Rain."

As they went Harry looked over the map to locate the apartment building. Like the Headmaster had said it was on the academies terrain but stood far away enough from the school that you got a sense of being away from school. The route wasn't all that difficult and Harry found he enjoyed the trip through the dense forest that gave way to a beautiful building of rose stone.

The style was a gorgeous 12th century gothic. Going up three stories but Harry was sure the inside was expended to suit student numbers. He saw several other people, probably students, walking towards the building and Harry felt himself in love with it. For the coming years this would be his and Jacobs home.

The entrance was high and arched, the doors of a light colored wood but richly engraved with magical creatures. Harry soon found that this was the theme throughout the rest of the building as all it wood was engraved the same.

The entrance hall was high and light, portraits decorated the walls and a grand sweeping staircase at the end spiralled up. To his left he found a library that seemed to double as lounge area. It was certainly something to look at later. First he wanted to get to their apartment and start unpacking.

If everything was right his and Jacob's luggage had already been brought to their room. A useful little service the pub had proved for them and Harry had gladly parted with some sickles to have his luggage brought here for him. It spared them the trouble of dragging it with them.

Looking down at his paper to see which floor they were on and what their apartment number is Harry kept on going to the staircase. It seemed that they would be staying on the second floor number 16. That sounded like they wouldn't have to walk a lot.

"It's really huge." Jacob commented when they reached the second floor. Harry agreed with him. It seemed that each floor was as high as the ground floor, which meant getting to the second floor was quite a trip. Then the apartments seemed to by a nice size so they had to travel halfway through the hall before they reached number sixteen.

Jacob opened the door and gasped as he stepped inside. "They really know how to go about making apartments."

Harry just nodded and looked around eyes wide. It really was more like a penthouse really. There wasn't an entrance hall instead you stepped into the living room which was spacious and held two sofas in a soft green colour. The floor was a soft grey stone that had vines of lighter and darker grey colors in it. The wood in their apartment was light colored like the rest of the building and carved.

To the left was open arched doorways into the kitchen where a breakfast table took the space to the right near the window. Wandering around Harry took in the counter and stove and they even had a fridge. Smiling he left and went to their bedroom which held a king seize bed and an en suite with tub and shower. They even had two toilets, one just near the entrance and one in the bathroom. It was perfect.

Form outside the bedroom Harry could here Jacob shout. "Hey come look at this. We even have our own balcony, the view is amazing."

Harry glanced around when leaving to join Jacob and saw their luggage beside the entrance. Relieved that nothing had gone wrong he walked out onto the balcony. Jacob had been right it was really nice not to mention that he knew that the other room had balconies but he couldn't see them, which meant they had built in privacy wards.

They looked out over a part of the forests and in the distance they could see the towers of the castle that was to be Harry's school. Things were looking good for them and when they went back inside to unpack Harry found himself brimming with energy to get started in his next adventure.

The headmaster favourite phrase made him think of Hermione and Ron who would have started with their last year. Hermione's last letter told him she was now Head girl and that Ron was still a prefect but had not been chosen for head boy.

It seemed Ron had been really counting on it but to Hermione's relief wasn't too fazed when he didn't get it. He did however get Quidditch captaincy and spend the last days of vacation gushing over his badge. The letter ended with Hermione's regular lists of questions, had he done any reading for school, did he know to start planning early and to ask if would let her know he had arrived at his new apartment.

She seemed to want him to find out when he had his free weekends so that she may check if any of the Hogsmeade weekends corresponded. It seemed that seventh year students could leave on those weekends and she thought it might be nice to see each other before Christmas.

He liked the plan but had no idea if how the school thought about students leaving campus on weekends. They could head into town of course but leaving an entire weekend was something different. And he also would have to check if he could have friends visit him in his apartment, there might be rules about other people staying over.

All the while he unpacked his luggage. Placing his clothes in the wardrobe, placing his books in the bookcase near a small study area that was set up for him and last hanging up the family pictures. Feeling really satisfied at being done Harry settled down on the couch to read over the welcome back program. The name wouldn't apply to all students since it was Harry first year here but he guessed they could hardly put two names on it.

Likewise the seminars would be much use for him since they were specifically for students coming back but the introduction events could be fun. While he read his enthusiasm grew as he found some introduction events he and Jacob could do together. It would be a great chance for Jacob to meet other people so that when Harry wasn't there he could arrange to do something with them.

They planned together what to do for the rest of the week and Harry didn't leave the room until nightfall when he decided to find his dorm head and have his paper signed. It was going to be a long way before he was a official mind healer but with each thing he did he got a bit closer.

Happily humming he went down the hall to the last room, which was designated for the dorm head according to the school dictionary.

-oOo-

The welcome back week was even more fun than Harry imagined it to be. They met loads of other students but also their partners and in some cases even children. It was a real eye opener to see couples walking about with their baby or toddler.

Jacob was having the time of his life having met several shifters of different breeds and the guys had made some sort of group together that Harry was sure would last for the rest of their lives. Harry himself found some people he thought he could become friends with too.

A young Irish wizard by the name of Daniel would be in the same class of him and the other two, a wizard and a witch, would be in a different class. They compared electives and had great fun filling each other in on their lives. The thing that really convinced Harry that they might become good friends was that they didn't care who he was. It felt good to meet new people that didn't judge him on newspapers and history books.

The strangest thing to happen that week was also the most disturbing thing to happen. As the week neared its end there was a meet and greet night in which new students could meet up with classmates and teachers. The small ballroom at school was packed with people but the moment he saw her Harry just knew he wasn't seeing things.

There sitting at the slightly raised platform with a card before her saying which class she taught was Professor Reilly. Cold shivers ran down his spine and Harry wrote a letter to Hermione that night before he went to bed. He had a bad feeling he just couldn't shake but at the same time he felt so stupid being suspicious of her being here. There could be millions of reasons she was a professor here now. Not to mention that she couldn't know he was here.

Still when Saturday came around Harry couldn't stand it anymore. Hermione had yet to answer and his curiosity together with his paranoid gene were jumping to be heard so Harry left his apartment to make his way up to the school. If anyone saw him wondering about he could just say he was walking to his classrooms.

He had received his timetable yesterday so it was a good excuse. Jacob was out with the pack, as the shifters jokingly called each other, and wouldn't be back for several hours as they were probably burning energy in the forest. As he walked to school he amused himself thinking about the mishmash of animal shifters Jacob surrogate pack was made out of. A wolf, two panthers, a reindeer, a fox and three horses. A combination the muggle world would never see but seemed nothing strange here at Rain academy.

Rain was vastly different than even Hogwarts in that it had students of all kinds of races and countries. In fact there were twins in his class that came from India and had permission to wear their traditional robes instead of the uniform because they had some relation to the royal line. There really were all kinds of people here and it made it more fun in Harry eyes. He had even been introduced to a werewolf professor which had hurt a little as it brought up memories of Remus and how he had to go quit his job because he was a werewolf.

By now he was at school and had wondered inside. The place was nothing like Hogwarts, sure it was a big castle but there were no moving stairs or ghosts here. Rain academy had its own kind of appeal though in that it was a bright castle without any of the dreary cold drafts Hogwarts suffered. It would be different but he would get used to it.

His trip was paying off in that he found his classes and managed to memorise them but he had yet to find a trace of Professor Reilly. Surely she should be somewhere inside the building. He had already wondered past her classroom but it had been empty. The section of the castle that was meant for teachers was forbidden so he couldn't go there and right now he concluded she was likely there, as he had pretty much looked at all the obvious places she could be.

Still it was a big castle and you could miss meeting someone for days on end. Deciding to give up for the day Harry turned and walked down the hall to the nearest staircase. He would take the route through the rose garden to get back to his apartment. Maybe the professor was a rose lover who liked to spend her time sitting outside.

In hindsight it was the most cliché meeting ever. He hadn't been paying any attention to his surroundings any longer, instead thinking about what he and Jacob could be eating tonight. Then out of nowhere her voice rang out.

"Well hello again Mr. Potter. Fancy meeting you here."

From shock Harry did a strange sideways backwards movement that made him hit the wall. Turning his head he came face to face with Professor Reilly who was looking smug and had a strange expression in her eyes that made Harry's hair stand on end.

"Good afternoon professor."

"Still living the good life I see." She said looking at his hands clearly indicating the marks from his bonding.

"I wonder though if you could tell me how you can live like you do, how you can just walk away from such a devastating thing as the train attack."

Not liking where the conversation was going Harry resolved to get away. Sure he had wanted to find out more about professor Reilly being here but now it seemed like a stupid thing to do. Double stupid that he had gone off alone and having not told anyone what he was doing or where he was going.

"Answers please Mr. Potter. As you professor I demand respect of my station and when I ask something it means you have to answer me!" she was almost hissing the words and the look in her eyes was so cold and flat Harry wondered if somewhere in her background her ancestors had breed some kind of snake into their linage.

"I'm sorry professor, it was an awful day for everyone and I certainly didn't leave it behind me. I live with the images each day but with the help of Lady Heather things have become better. Now if you could please excuse me I have to get back home, my mate is waiting for me with dinner."

He only managed to get a few steps before Reilly grabbed his arm and forcefully twisted him around.

"No you will not. You will not do this. You were supposed to be our savour, our hero but that turned out to be a hoax. Then when you could at least be a little bit useful you fail. Did you know that my younger twin sisters were on that train? In fact they were in that very same group you were in and you failed to keep them alive."

For a moment he allowed her accusations to enter his mind to play on his guilt. Then he forcefully stopped it, he had spend many times talking to Lady Heather about this. He couldn't keep carrying all his burdens and especially not other peoples burdens. Many people died that day and he was only one person. One boy who had been half broken, no one could expect him to save everyone it was impossible.

"I'm really sorry for your loss but I'm just a person. I can't save everyone, I'm not all powerful." He whispered but she heard and it only made her angrier.

"You not sorry enough! But you will be." And then he felt the familiar tuck of a portkey. Blind panic set in as his mind flashed back to the tournament and his panic grew when he remembered that no one knew where he had gone and now they wouldn't even have a chance to find him.

His landings always on the unstable kind were a complete disaster now. He stumbled and fell on the ground hurting his arm. The landing also knocked him breathless and before he could gather himself someone had him tied up. He didn't know whom until she started to talk though.

"Look at that, little widdly baby Potter down at my feet at least. Oh you look so good in this position little Potter, but you don't look quite right just yet." The sing song voice made his skin crawl and when he managed to twist his head just a little bit to look he was met by the sight of Bellatrix.

She looked just as crazy as ever, her hair wild and unkempt and her robes stiff with dirt and probably blood. Beside her stood Professor Reilly, a look of deep satisfaction on her face.

"I told you, you would be sorry." She said smugly.

"With what will I start? Oh I know. Crucio." Bellatrix said at the same time and Harry entire body lit up in pain. It felt like hours before she finally cancelled the spell and all he could do was sob and whimper. Any kind of thought was beyond him as he lay there, praying that she wouldn't do it again so soon.

His prayers were not heard as Bellatrix cast Crucio two more times before she dragged him to his new home. Her form of speech going from the taunting baby talk to insane discussions with figments of her own imagination. It disturbed him greatly she was sanest when she was taunting him. And all the time Reilly followed them, never speaking up or showing remorse.

When he was finally left alone Harry cried out of sheer desperation. With each sob his body throbbed painfully and breathing was torture. The floor was damp and cold and at one point he dragged himself to the wooden cot that he supposed was his bed. It didn't help much with the cold but at least it was dry.

When he felt somewhat calmer he looked around and found that his cell was a small stone room, the walls dripping and patches of it covered in green muck. The one window was high up with bars. Frowning Harry reached for it biting his lip as he pulled himself up causing his muscles to scream in pain.

Looking outside told him nothing of where he might be but he was pretty sure he might be able to pull out the bars. Already rust and time had created a fragility in the stone they were set in. He would be able to work them out but he had no idea how long Bellatrix would stay away. If she came back and discovered what he had done the punishment would not only be brutal but he would likely be relocated to another room.

Still the sooner he started the faster he could escape. With the way she tortured he didn't have the luxury to hope he would survive the next time. His body could hardly cope with what had been done to it just now. Trying not to feel sorry for himself, Harry lowered himself down on his feet and started to wriggle the bar in the middle, his mind mostly focussed on listening to voices or footsteps.

He actually managed to get two bars lose before he heard footsteps coming his way. Scared Harry placed the bars back, giving them the extra push to make sure they wouldn't tumble out and sat down on the cot. Hugging himself he rested his head on his knees and looked at the door.

Not a moment too soon as just at that moment the door opened and Reilly stepped in. Her smile was all wrong and Harry shivered.

"Look at boy wonder now, all beaten up and useless like the day of the attack. You know that my sisters and me grew up hearing stories about you, how you were supposed to be some saviour. Well, some saviour you turned out to be. You didn't even kill You Know Who and are a complete flop when it comes to saving your fellow students." She snorted out.

Harry flinched and tried not to look her in the eye. As if she was some predator that he might set off or challenge if he did so. He also refrained from talking back or telling her his friends and mate would come for him. He was pretty sure any kind of back talk would only make his situation harder. It was better to stay silent and take what came to him as best as he could. Merlin he hoped he would survive.

"Got nothing to say for yourself. How typical. Well let's see how you do when you won't get food or water for a few days." The brilliant smile he could see from the corner of his eyes frightened him and he hoped that he would get away. He also hoped that he would find his wand once he got back. He felt pretty stupid having not realized before that he had lost it, he was a wizard for heaven's sake and he only just realized it.

Then again maybe that was also a good thing, since he was sure that his wand would have been taken from him had he had it. They probably would have broken it just to spite him. To his relieve Reilly left making a show of closing the door and locking it. He waited until he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore before he went back to working on the bars.

He really was lucky to have this chance. He wondered of course why neither of the women had noticed the state of the bars before they threw him in here but he didn't dare think about it for any length of time. It was better to not question his luck and just work on what he had.

This time he was left alone for so long that he had managed to create a gap large enough. For a moment he stood still and listened trying to detect the woman but heard nothing but the slow drip, drip of water. Scared Harry turned his back to the wall and pulled his pained body up for the second time.

It was dark out by now but enough moonlight to see by it would help him when he ran for the forest he had seen from the window earlier that day and now was nothing more than a pitch black blob in the distance. After slipping a few times he finally managed to work his upper body through the window and using his weight and gravity let himself fall to the ground.

All the while his mind kept screaming that it was a trap that there was no way he would be so lucky as to escape so soon. Cursing under his breath Harry just lay on the ground until his muscles didn't throb quite so painful anymore. His mind was conjuring image after image of what might happen in the coming few minutes.

And somewhere he was sure he would be caught again but he pushed the thought away mercilessly. Finally he felt confident enough to try and stand up most of his senses straining to hear if his captors had discovered his escape. He kept it up all the way to the forest creeping from one patch of shadow to the next slowly.

Once there he allowed himself a short rest. Looking back around constantly listening was taking its toll, he found that his thought process was slower and he found it harder to think logically. He was sure that the torture and condition of his body played a huge part in it but for now he kept dragging his mind back to one thought. Getting away.

If only he could apparate. Such a thing would have been wonderful, one little pop and he would have been safe. Then again he didn't know his location and apparating far distances could kill a wizard by sheer magical drainage. Feeling depression clawing at him he moved on again. It was better to just keep going and put as much distance between him and his tormentors. It also kept him from thinking too much as he needed to pay attention to his surroundings.

After a while he lost all sense of direction and stopped again. It would be foolish to go on because he might end up at the same place he tried to get away from. Still sitting out in the open wasn't really an option either, he didn't have his wand and Bellatrix and Reilly did. So the next logical thing would be to at least hide.

Looking around he sighed. He couldn't see much in the forest trees blocking out most of the moonlight. The ground was leafy though so he sat down on the ground and tried to cover himself with them. He wasn't sure if he succeeded but by now he was just too tired.

-oOo-

Morning brought with it a renewed hopelessness. Harry still believed that this was all too good to be true. Surely he shouldn't be able to get away so easy and even with his body all stiff and painful he wondered if this was some kind of illusion created by Reilly or Bellatrix. That it was all just in his mind and that it was another form of torture.

Still he kept going, with more light to navigate he could at least see the forest ground and avoid roots and potholes. He travelled even slower than yesterday but the pace was steady and at one point the sun managed to penetrate the trees bathing him in warm light. He made sure too rest regularly even if his mind was telling him to keep going on, it wouldn't do his body any good and would only tire him out faster.

It was when he was resting that he heard it. Shouting of his name in the distance. Instantly he froze up and listened with all his might. There again his name was called out and he recognized it as Bellatrix, her mocking litany of insults coming closer and closer.

Closing his eyes Harry wondered what he could do. No wand, no knowledge of apparating, no means of contacting anyone and not able to outrun her. When he opened his eyes he was looking up unseeing then his sight flickered to the branches and an idea came to him.

Years ago Hermione had said once that witches and wizards were not much for logic and Bellatrix being who she was must have almost none of it. Climbing up a tree might be just the thing to save him. Hoisting himself up he prepared himself to jump up and prayed he could grasp the branch above him.

With some trouble he managed to drag his body onto it and once on it he had to stop and rest. His breathing was out of control and his entire body was shaking from the move. His pour muscles would be able to take much more of this.

Still he had no option but to climb higher and was pleased when at last he found a high enough place with enough shelter to hide. Settling down he pushed his body into a fork so that he couldn't accidentally fall down and waited.

Bellatrix was still coming his way but now she was close enough for him to notice that she walked in a sweeping way, going from one side to the other. This time he also caught the sound of Reilly's voice who was searching somewhere farther down right. Harry swallowed painfully and closed his eyes. This was just hopeless at one point they would find him it was surely to only possible ending. Still maybe they wouldn't notice him and he could only hope that at one point they would move on and leave the forest. If only luck would stay with him for a little while longer he wanted to see Jacob again, his family and friends. He didn't want to die.

By now Bellatrix was so close Harry was afraid to even breath, her voice coming from somewhere beneath him. Each second she spends close by was a whole new form of mental torture. Tears formed in his eyes and Harry could feel them slipping down his cheeks pooling around his lips and form there dripping down his chin onto his neck.

Bellatrix took her time it seemed but finally, finally moved further away. Just a sliver of relieve rose in his mind he was still in a very dangerous situation and she was still close enough to hear him or sense him. Then something rustled near his tree and in the next moment Bellatrix shouted of stunners and curses alike.

Eyes wide Harry kept his breath and listened. Bellatrix stomped back and started cursing then left. Slowly Harry let out his breath and briefly wondered if at the end of the search party any animals would be alive in this forest. With the way Bellatrix went at it the numbers would at least be seriously lowered.

As if that wasn't enough Reilly started screaming. Her howl cut of so fast Harry knew she had been attacked. Bellatrix once again came his way but this time she ran and kept going into the direction Reilly had been heard. Harry didn't dare move down, he had no idea how long the disruption would keep Bellatrix busy and with his speed he probably wouldn't get far.

Then another shout, Bellatrix, was met with a vicious howl. Harry heart started to beat faster. The howl had sounded like a wolf. Surely it couldn't be, but just maybe it was. When he hurt Bellatrix screaming and cursing Harry's hope grew and he leaned towards the direction he heard the fight coming from.

This time he could also hear growling and moments later Bellatrix let out a high-pitched scream. Then silence. Unsure Harry opted to stay in his tree and wait to hear what happened next. Sure enough he could hear Bellatrix again closer this time and his heart hurt. Had she killed the wolf, and then he heard the wolf. It was running and it seemed no matter what spell Bellatrix flung at it didn't slow it down.

A crashing sound told him the two had collided and they were close enough for Harry to hear bones snap. Wincing Harry pushed himself closer to the tree but kept his attention on the sounds coming his way.

Bellatrix was still fighting it seemed but by now he knew it was useless. His prediction was realized not moments later when Bellatrix gasped and then let out a low gurgling sound that faded away. Silence took over again this time replaced moments later by Jacob's voice.

"Harry, come out please. It's safe."

Nothing had ever sounded sweeter and Harry immediately started to lower himself. The emotions blocked his throat and he couldn't seem to speak around it but it didn't matter. Jacob heard him move and by the time Harry gotten low enough it was to see his mate waiting for him.

"Jacob." He managed to say before just letting go of the branch and fall the rest of the way down into his mates arms.

"You're safe now my love." Jacob whispered as he caught him. His mate didn't let go and instead shifted Harry until he had a good hold on him before he started walking.

"I'm so glad this academy had protective barriers that prevent people from using those portkey thingies to get beyond the barriers. It meant that you were still somewhere close. It took us a while but then one of the cats found the ruins they had kept you and it was easy to track you from there."

Harry didn't really pay attention to what Jacob said beyond the words of barrier and tracking. He guessed he would be up for it when he had spent some time in the hospital being treated for Crucio effects. Not to mention now that he was safe and warmed by Jacobs body he felt completely drained.

Just before he passed out he could think of nothing else but that he had been extremely lucky. Lucky and loved he thought as he turned his head just a smidge so as to breathe in Jacobs scent.

-oOo-

When Harry woke it was to the sight of white plaster ceiling that seemed to be the trademark of hospitals world round. Next he noticed was Jacobs presence, the shifter was holding his hand looking at Harry with a pained expression. Harry smiled to let him know everything was fine and then with something of a shock found that everything was indeed fine.

His body felt great and he wasn't tired. Sitting up he experimentally moved all his limbs and grinned at Jacob as everything worked just fine. Jacob gave him a tiny smile back obviously still dealing with how Harry had been when he found him.

"Well Mr. Potter, a nice start of your new school you're having." A sweet voice said.

Turning Harry was faced with a medi-witch. Her crisp white and blue uniform a sign of her station. She held a clipboard in her hands with several papers she was now riffling through. Humming as she did so.

"Well it seems you're good to go Mr. Potter but I must insist that you be careful for the coming weeks. Your body will be tender for a while yet."

She scribbled something on one of the papers with her quill before looking up and smiling. "I'll have your robes brought to you. Until then why don't you and your mate have a nice chat over breakfast." She waved her wand at the nightstand and in the next moment a tray with breakfast came flying from somewhere to the left and landed on it.

Satisfied she left Harry and Jacob alone to enjoy each other's company. And boy did they talk. Jacob filled Harry in on his side. Telling him of finding Harry wand laying abandoned in one of the hallways. Taking it to the Headmaster and setting up the search party.

By the time it became clear the Professor Reilly had something to do with it his shifter friends had offered to split up and search the terrain. Again and again Jacob touched him and Harry revelled in it. He was safe and with his mate with Bellatrix gone for good he could finally let go of that part of his past. It had always bugged him that she had been somewhere out there. Just knowing that she was no dead was a huge relief.

Harry kept his side of the story much shorter and less detailed. He knew that Jacob could tell there was more but he just didn't want to talk about it. For now he just wanted to enjoy feeling good, they could always talk about it more later. Much later.

In the end Harry ended up missing a couple of schooldays but none of his teacher made much of a fuss about it. One of them even handed Harry his own notes of the class he missed and told him that he would understand if Harry wasn't able to concentrate completely on his lessons.

In that first week of school he also had a long talk with the headmaster who was greatly concerned for Harry. The man wondered if he might like to go home for a few weeks but Harry politely turned the offer away and instead asked if Lady Heather could come around. That of course wasn't a problem at all and soon not only Lady Heather came to visit him but his family also.

His first real school weekend he found himself with is vampire family all of them concerned for him and asking if he was fine. Jasper would even touch him to make certain he was feeling okay. The real surprise was that Edward was back.

It seemed he had come to a conclusion and he told Harry with a steady and calm voice that even though he loved Bella very much he could not change her. He could offer to stay with her but not at the price of taking her soul. His belief ran to deep and he had found that he could not sacrifice it for her.

Later he heard from Rosalie that Edward and Bella had another fight about it. Apparently Edward had gone to tell her of his decision and the argument had been so loud one of the neighbours had called the police. Chief Swan had been none too happy about it and for now Edward was forbidden to see his daughter. This of course didn't mean that Bella didn't come by their house to continue the argument.

The family had, had front row seats in that fight and even Rosalie admitted that she felt sorry for Edward. She could see that he loved Bella and that her words hurt him but she was proud that he stood by his belief and probably relieved that Bella wouldn't be joining them.

Harry guessed that at one point someone would have to wipe Bella's mind of the knowledge of shifters and vampires if things didn't work out. But for now Edward was still trying to get the relationship to work so he would keep this offer to himself until it was truly needed. Which seemed to be not too far off, poor Edward.

Sunday night his family left for home and Harry and Jacob saw them off by the airport. When they turned to go to their apartment Harry felt calm and happy. His past was behind him and all he had now was a future he could look forward to filled with his mate, family and friends.

Speaking of friends it would probably be a good thing to write his before they found out form someone else what had happened to him.

Fin.

I feel that now the story has a more definite ending to it. All the loose ends I had at chapter three are finished. No roaming death eaters or other parties hunting Harry. Harry's relationship growing close and the bonding. He is free to go on and start the next phase in his life.

Also I hope to have brought a more real feel to Edwards and Bella's relationship. The twilight story really bugs me in that aspect and here I tried to give them the truth and as I showed in this story I do not think the relationship would hold. Well at least it doesn't in my story.

As always I would like to ask of those reading this to let me know what they think about the story especially now that it is finished. Did you enjoy it, was it fun or did it suck.

_Little known facts about this story._

It was never meant to be this long. After the first thirty pages though I decided that keeping this as a one shot was a lost cause and it became a multi chapter story instead.

The story kind of hijacked me. I had plans, well I had an outline and this story just chucked it in the bin and wrote itself. At one point I wondered if it would ever come to an end.

This story is officially 81 pages long and consist over 45.000 words

It survived two computer crashes and made me cry in frustration the first time I thought I lost it. It was over 25.000 words at that time.

After the first crash I kept making backups every time I was finished writing for that day.

I had to finish it on my laptop as my desktop is still being fixed from that second crash at this moment.

In the time that I wrote it I also had one black out, one thunder storm and several bad weather days.

Love Kaicee


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